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TRAVELS 

IN 

LOUISIANA 

AND 

THE FLO RID AS, 

IN THE YEAR, 1802, 

GIVING 

A CORRECT MCTURE OF THOSE COUJrTRIES.^ 
Translated from the French, with Notes, &c. by 

JOHN DAVIS. 



Asplce et extremis dojnitum cultoribus orbem, 
Eaosque domes Arabum, pictosque Gelonos ; 
Divisje arboribus patriae. 



VIRGILIUSj 



J\rE JV'YORK; 
PRINTED BY AND FOR I. RILEY & CQ 

NO. I. CITY-HOTEL, BKOADWAY. 

1806. ^^ i--:^-^^:::^^/?^ 




District of") ^ "OE IT REMEMBERED, That on the 
New-York.3 ^^' -D third day of October, in the thirty -first 
year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
Isaac Riley, of the said District, hath deposited in this Of- 
fice, the Title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as pro- 
prietor, in the words and figures following, to wit: 

" Travels in Louisiana and the Floridas, in tlie year, 1802, giv- 
" ing a correct Picture of those Countries. I'ranslated from the 
" French, with notes, &c. by John Davis. 

Aspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem, 
Eaosque domos Arabum, pictosque Gelonos ; 
Divisse arboribus patriae, 

VIRGILIUS." 



In coNFonMiTY to the Act of the Congress of the United 
States, entitled " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, 
*• by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the 
" Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times 
*' herein mentioned ;" and also to an Act entitled " An Act sup- 
•* plementary to an act entitled. An act for the encouragement of 
" Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, 
** to the Authoi's and Proprietors of such Copies, during the 
*' times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof, 
" to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching historical and 
** other prints." 

EDWARD DUNSCOMB, 
Clerk of the District of New-Yorfe 



s 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE, 



1 HERE is a preface of considerable 
length prefixed to the original work from 
which I have made this translation, but as 
it is absolute verbiage^ mere sound signify- 
ing nothing, I have, without deliberation, 
suppressed it. The reader will believe that 
its excellence is very moderate when I ac- 
quaint him that the author gravely tells us 
he has divided his book into chapters that 
the reader may find time to breathe ; and 
and that he has seasoned his work with 
anecdote to keep attention awake. One 
passage is, however, deserving of notice, 

" I have never," says the author, " vio- 
" lated truth in the progress of my narra^ 
** tive : I speak not from hearsay but posi- 
*' tive knowledge ; and in my prerogative 
'* of a traveller, I shall not be deterred by 
" any mean pusillanimous motive from the 



IV 

" true statement of facts.'' Again, says he, 
" I may be arraigned with severity, but I 
" have, in reality, been tender. Boileau 
" has said 

y^appelle un chat un chat, et Rolet un fripon. 

I hate that tenderness so much in vogue ; 
I call a cat a cat, a rogue a rogue. 

** But I, from a delicacy that abhors the 
** ^vounding of the feelings of a whole family 
** by the personal mention of any member 
** of it, have avoided all names." 

This work in the original has acquired 
great notoriety at Paris, It comprehends 
a picture of manners in a corner of the globe 
hitherto very partially and inaccurately re- 
presented; this part has made it popular 
among all classes of readers, for wit and 
satire are transitory and perishable, but 
nature and passion are eternal. 

While the work was in a Paris press, a 
few extracts, constituting a sort of avant 
courier^ were published in the Gazette de 
France^ under the title of Lettres (Tun Colon 



de la Louisiane. They necessarily excited 
interest ; the vokime was eagerly expected 
and it was ushered before the public in 
August, 1803. 

There cannot be a doubt thS: a transla- 
tion of this volume is a desideratum to the 
inhabitants of the United States. The 
books published by Pratz and his followers 
on the subject of Louisiana, either re- 
late to military operations, or are so defec* 
tive in whatever can interest the feelings, or 
inform the understanding, that they are now 
no longer found in the hands of general 
readers, but in the libraries of the curious. 
A work therefore was wanting relative to 
this colony that by its useful informa- 
tion should aid or correct the ideas of 
Americans on commercial and agricultural 
speculations. Such a work has been in a 
great measure, if not wholly, supplied by our 
present traveller. It possesses all the inter- 
nal evidence of diligent inquiry, immediate 
observation, arid deep reflection. His views 
are comprehensive ; they embrace a variety 
of objects. And, though he passes over 



VI 



slightly some things, yet on the subject of 
manners, the topography of the country, 
the soil and climate, its manufactures and 
staple commodities ; on these subjects he 
is full, discriminative and solid. 

It will be thought by many that our au- 
thor has not always written to gratify curi- 
osity, but to indulge envy, malignity, and 
-a petulant desire to depreciate the country 
and its inhabitants. But the business of a 
traveller is to deliver manly sentiments, and 
he ought not to be deterred from his pur- 
pose by the petty objections of petty readers. 
If he be prodigal of his censure, he is not 
sparing of his praise, and he has devoted a 
chapter of eulogy to the inhabitants of the 
United States. 

As far as I am capable of judging, he is 
an original writer. Other travellers in 
America are eternally consulting books, and 
endeavour to supply their poverty of remark 
by affluence of quotation. They are perpe- 
tually referring their readers to authors of 



Vll 

public notoriety, and a wide margin is de- 
voted to the names of JeiFerson and Morse, 
This is not the case with the present travel- 
ler. He observes, compares and reflects for 
himself. He never servilely follows the 
beaten track of his contemporaries. 

His chief defect is in what relates to the 
natural history of the country ; he treats it 
in such a superficial manner, that he 
neither assists the researches of the stu- 
dent, nor gratifies the curiosity of the inqui- 
sitive. But these are only shades that set off 
his lights more strongly. 

I cannot speak favorably either of his style, 
his language or manner. His style is in- 
volved, his language not pure, and his man-^ 
ner not pleasing. In his long preface he 
heats himself with informing us that he 
has sacrificed to the graces in the construc- 
tion of his sentences ; and declaims about 
precision^ methode^ clarte, solidite, ^c. But 
he endeavours in vain to defend himself with 
the shield of his own panegyric. 



VIU 

In the progress of this translation I have 
thought it my duty neither to omit nor inter- 
polate, neither to soften nor aggravate, but 
make it my object to be true to the sense of 
my author. I have no other claim but that 
of diligence ; I am only the interpreter of 
another's observations. 

JOHN DAVIS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE DEPENDENCE, SITUATION, AND EXTENT OF 
THE COLONY. 



1 OU desire me, sir,' with so much earnest- 
ness, to impart to you the observations I have 
made on a countr)' in which I have dwelt two 
years and a half, and you estimate so highly my 
powers of discernment, that my mind is held in 
suspense by contrary impulses how to proceed ; 
v/hether to decline the task, or comply with 
your pressing solicitations. In the first in- 
stance, I expose myself to the pain of disoblig- 
ing you ; and in the other, I run the risk of di- 
minishing your esteem, by producing a trifling, 
superficial, and incorrect work. I am, however, 
determined in this affair, by the recollection 
that friendship is indulgent, and that the eye 
of P3dade3 has not the severity of that of Aris- 
tarchus. 

Expect not, however, a description of every 
thing that can engage the attention. My ob- 
ject will be to acquaint you with the situation. 



extent, and commerce of the colony ; its cli- 
mate, population, manners, government, and 
productions. These solely merit the attention 
of the philosopher and man of sense ; the rest 
may serve to amuse, but bring no information 
to the understanding. 

The colony known by the name of the pro- 
vince of Louisiana and West-Florida, belongs 
to the King of Spain. The major part of this 
territory, composed of Louisiana and the isle 
of New-Orleans, belonged formerly to France ; 
its first establishment having been made to- 
wards the end of the reign of Lewis XIV. or 
rather, under the regency of the Duke of Or- 
leans, the founder of the colony : it was ceded 
to Spain by the French government after the 
war of 1756. 

The taking possession of this new colony in 
the name of its new master, was in every re- 
spect a disastrous era for the country. The 
bands which had heretofore united it to France, 
were violently torn asunder. Assassinations of 
persons, confiscation of property, tyrannical ex- 
pulsions, cruel imprisonment, and the horrors 
of the inquisition, were exercised by the new 
government. I do not exaggerate the impress- 
ion made by the rigorous abuse of power when I 



affirm, that there are still colonists existing, 
who, after a lapse of more than thirty years, ne- 
ver make the recital of those tragic scenes with- 
out discovering emotions of pity, horror, and 
indignation. 

This colony, taken in its fullest extent, com- 
prehends, upon the right bank of the Missis- 
sippi, and from its source to its mouth, all the 
territory composing Louisiana j bounded on 
the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the 
north by the Red Lake, (from the twenty-ninth 
to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude) on 
the east by the Mississippi, and on the west by 
New Mexico, and vast countries unexplored; 
and on the left bank of the same river, the 
territory called West-Florida ; bordered on 
the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the 
north by the boundary line between the United 
States and Spain, fixed at the thirty-first de- 
gree of latitude ; on the east by East Florida, 
and on the west by the Mississippi. 

It will be seen by this view, that the river di- 
vides the colony into two unequal parts, name- 
ly, upon the right bank, and from its discharge 
at the Red Lake to its discharge in the Gulf 
of Mexico, is comprehended the vast territory 
of Louisiana, and upon the right bank, a nar- 
row tract that extends towards the east, the 



length of the same gulf, to the. hsty and river of 
Apalachia, bounded on one side by the ocean, 
and on the other b)^ the frontiers of the United 
States, about the thirtieth or thirty-iirst degree 
of latitude. 

If we take into consideration the whole ex- 
tent of the tract comprehended in the bounda- 
ries that have been just exhibited, the colony 
under that point of viev/, includes an immense 
territory. But appreciating things by their real 
value, and considering the country in another 
point of view, both with regard to the nature 
of its soil and other local circumstances, with- 
out including Upper Louisiana, which begins 
at the thirty-first degree of latitude, and extends 
to the north and the east, an immense territory, 
wild and uncultivated, with a few partial ex- 
ceptions, I am disposed to believe that this 
part of the colony, composed of Lower Louis- 
siana and West Florida, situated at the thirti- 
eth and thirty-first degrees of north latitude, 
and at the sixty-eighth or sixty-ninth degree of 
east longitude, from the meridian of Ferrol, 
where the principal settlements of the colony 
are established; this immense tract, I insist, 
comprehending a space of four thousand leagues, 
affords only five hundred square leagues of land 



adapted to the purposes of agriculture: of these 
too, seventy-five are upon the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi, a hundred and twenty-five in the inte- 
rior of the country, and three hundred in the 
tract bounded by the Atacapas and the Apelous- 
sas ; from which the inference is manifest, that 
only the eighth part of this vast country can 
be appropriated to the labours and residence 
of man, the remainder being covered with 
lakes, forests, and swamps, and dry and sandr 
deserts. 

The centre of almost the whole of this pari 
of the colony, taken from the banks of the river, 
and penetrating, from one part to another, into 
the interior of the neighbouring country, is, 
with a few exceptions, a level soil, where not a 
hillock presents itself six feet in height. There 
is, however, a slight elevation on the banks of 
the river, to the lakes and canals situated in the 
deep recesses of the country. 

There is no map, or sketch deserving the 
name, of this colony. The defect is to be la- 
mented. It can be attributed only to the care- 
lessness of the government, and the indifference 
of the colonists. Hence, a country that has been 
inhabited for a century by a civilized people, is 
scarcely known to geographers ; or, if any at- 
A 2 



tempts have been made to describe its counte- 
nance, they have been vague, feeble, and indi- 
gested.* 

* The precise boundaries of Louisiana, westward of the Mis- 
sissippi, though very extensive, are at present involved in some 
obscui'ity. Data are equally wanting to assign with precision 
its noi-tliern extent. From tlie soui'ce of tlie Mississippi, it is 
bounded eastwardly by the middle of tlie channel of that river to 
tlie tliii-ty -first degi-ee of latitude ; thence, it is asserted upon very 
ijtrong grounds, that acccording to its limits, when formerly 
possessed by France, it stretches to the east, as far, at least, aa 
the river Padigo, which runs into tlie Bay of Me?aco, east- 
ward of the river Mobile. 

It may afford useful information to remark, that Louisiana, 
including tlie Mobile settlements, was discovered and peopled 
by the French, whose monai-chs made several grants of its 
trade, in particular to Mr. Crosat in 1712, and some years af- 
terwards, with his acquiescence, to the vv'ell known Company 
projected by Mr. Law. This Company was relinquished in 
the year 1731. By a secret convention the 3d of November, 
1762, the French government ceded so much of tlie province 
as lies beyond the Mississippi to tlie Iberville, thence through 
the middle of that n\er, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchar- 
train to the sfia, was ceded to Great Britain. Spain having 
conquered the Floridas from Great Britain during our revolu- 
tionary war, they were confirmed to lier by the treaty of peace 
of 1783. By the ti-eaty of St. Ildefonso, of the 1st of Oct. 1800, 
his catholic majesty promises and engages on his pail to cede 
back to tlie French republic, six months after the full and en- 
tire execution of the conditions and stipulations therein con- 
tainrd, relative to the Duke of Parma, " the colony or pro- 
" YJncc of Louisiana, with die same extent that it actually has 



CHAPTER II. 



Of THE RIVER MISSISSIPPI, AND ITS RELATIONS 

TO THE COLONY WHICH IT RUNS 

THROUGH AND DIVIDES. 



X HE Mississippi which divides the colony, 
and whose real name in the language of the 
aborigines of the country, is Messachipi^ which 
signifies the Father of Waters^ is one of the most 
considerable rivers in America. Its course is 
from nine hundred to a thousand leagues, con- 
sidered from the Red La.ke, whence it proceeds, 
tov/ards the forty-sixth degree of north lati- 
tude, to the Gulf of Mexico, where it empties 
itself, at nearly the twenty-ninth degree, in a di- 
rection chiefly from north to south, but v/ith a 
number of windings in a zig zag form, princi- 

" in the hands of Spain, that it had when France possessed it, 
*' and such as it oiig'ht to be after the treaties subsequently en- 
*' tercd into betv.ecn Spain and otlicv states." Tlus treaty 
was confirmed and enforced by that of Madrid, of the 21st of 
March, 1801. From France it passed to the United States, by 
the treaty of the 30th of April, 1802, with a reference to the 
above clause, as descriptive of the limits ceded. — OJJiclal Do- 
cuments Tians. 



pally in the lower part. Its mouth, about a 
league wide, divided into several branches, is 
very confined, and is moreover obstructed by a 
quantity of mud, wood, and other substances, 
which it gathers in its course, and which 
it deposits upon its shores and in its bed, be- 
fore it discharges itself into the Mexican Gulf. 
This mouth supplies but two channels, of which 
the better one offers a safe passage only to ves- 
sels whose draught of water does not exceed 
from twelve to fifteen feet. This is the more 
lamentable, as on this side of its mouth, the bed 
of the river, in the progress of about a hundred 
leagues, and, consequently, in the whole space 
of the lower part of the colony, v»^hich it di- 
vides, is of sufficient depth to admit vessels of 
the largest burthen, which might navigate its 
waters in perfect safety. But such is this incon- 
venience, that vessels above three hundred tons, 
cannot enter the river at present, nor go out of 
it, laden, without being exposed to the risk of 
running aground j unless it be in the Spring, 
during the great rise of the stream. Yet, tradi- 
tion records, that sixty years ago, ships from se- 
ven to eight hundred tons, entered and went 
out of the river, at every season, without appre- 
hension of danger. 



The depth of the bed of the river, in the cen- 
tre of the colonial settlements formed on its 
banks, about as far up as the arm of the Creek 
of the Fourche,* and at fifty leagues from its 
mouth, is, as nearly as can be ascertained, from 
thirty to forty fathoms, and its breadth in the 
same place, from four to five hundred fathoms, 
according to the rise or diminution of its waters, 
at the different seasons of the year ; the river 
rising considerably in March, April, and May, 
and falling in September, October, and Novem- 
ber. 

The Mississippi in its upper part, taken above 
the thirty-first degree, or a hundred or more 
leagues beyond its winding course, on this side 
of its mouth, and in ascending thence to its 
source, is, in many places, obstructed by small 
islands, ilats, and huge crooked branches of en- 
tire trees, which, carried along by its flood, du- 
ring its rise, are stopped by banks of sand, and 
form, upon the surface of the water, a species 
of rocks not a little formidable ; they are called 
stumps by the inhabitants. Hence the naviga- 

* The Creek or Bayou of tlie Fouixhe, is on the west side 
of the Mississippi, about 25 leagues from New-Orleans ; it is 
called in tlie old maps, La Riviere des Chitamaches. It flows 
from the Mississippi, and communicates witli tlie sea to thc 
wcst of the Balise. 



10 

tion of the upper part of the river is seldom 
practised during the night, from fear of acci- 
dents that may happen, particularly during its 
diminution. In fact, its navigation is made only 
with a kind of large covered arks, in the shape of 
chests, which are used to descend the stream, 
and barks or boats of smaller dimensions, equal- 
ly adapted to ascend or go down it j sails are 
rarely used, but commonly oars, or else the 
boat is hauled along the river's bank, or pushed 
forward with poles. The passage of about five 
hundred leagues, from the station of the Illinois, 
the remotest establishment in the northern part 
of the colony, to New-Orleans, its principal set- 
tlement, is made in these boats, and generally 
effected from fifteen days to a month ; and the 
passage back from New-Orleans to the same 
station of the Illinois, demands from six weeks 
to three months, according to the season, or, 
rather, according to the rise or diminution of 
the river. 

Although during a great part of the year, the 
stream of the river is tolerably placid, being 
frequently broken by numerous elbows, v/hich 
restrain its impetuosity, yet, it cannot be ascend- 
ed without labour and difficulty. The reason is 
obvious. The river enjoys not the advantage 
of tides, nor can the diversity of winds, so use- 



11 

ful to navigation, produce any lasting effect, 
as the same wind may be both favourable and 
contrary in the same hour, in consequence of 
the serpentine progress of the stream. Hence 
its navigation is so tedious, that a vessel is not 
unfrequently fifteen days ascending from the 
Balise* to New-Orleans, though the distance 
exceeds not thirty-five leagues. 

Under these circumstances, it would be im- 
practicable to ascend this great river, deprived 
of the advantage of tides and favourable winds, 
if its numerous windings, by extending its 
course, did not calm its impetuosity, particu- 
larly during its rise and plenitude, the six first 
months of the year. It falls, on the other hand, 
and maintains a certain point of depression dur- 
ing the other six months ; the difference of the 
two extremes being from twelve to fifteen per- 

• About eight leagues below Plaquemines, the Mississippi 
divides itself into three channels, which are called the passes of 
the river, viz. the east, south, and soutli-west passes. Their 
course is from five to six leagues from the sea. The space be- 
tween is a marsh with little or no timber on it ; but from its 
f ituation, it may hereafta* be rendered of importance. The east 
pass, wliich is on the left hand going down the river, is divided 
into two branches about two leagues below, viz. the Pass sl la 
Louti-e, and that known to mariners by tlienameof tlie Balise, 
*t which there is a small block-house, and some huts of the 
pilot» who reside here. — Siate Documents Tr-ans. 



12 



pendicular feet. During the acme of its rise, the 
force of its current may be estimated at about 
a league an hour, and at its lowest state of de- 
pression, towards the close of the year, its cur- 
rent is scarcely perceptible. 

In contemplating this grand and magnificent 
river, so remote in its source, receiving into its 
bosom so many mighty streams, and augmenting 
its waters from other concurring causes ; the 
melting of the snov/ and ice towards the north ; 
the superabundance of rain which increases the 
mass and violenceof its water by freshes ; behold- 
ing this majestic river thus augmented ; travers- 
ing an immense territory, and involving in its 
flood a prodigious quantity of the largest trees 
of the forest, and hurrying them along its banks 
that overlook its surface; a stranger just arriv- 
ed in the country, cannot view without awe the 
spectacle before him, or refrain from wonder- 
ing at the profound tranquillity with v/hich the 
inhabitants dwell on the river, and pursue their 
labours with apparent unconsciousness of dan- 
ger. But the emotions of the stranger abate, 
when he reflects that these same banks have 
been inhabited by the colonists and their ances- 
tors for nearly a century, without experiencing 
anj disaster from the river's inundation; its 
inundations having been only temporary, par- 



13 

tial and without any serious consequences, un- 
like the rivers of Europe, which, by a sudden 
eruption have involved in their torrents, houses, 
cattle, and the human species. 

Let us investigate the causes of this physical 
phenomenon, where an immense tract has been 
preserved, which seems to be momentarily 
threatened with a total subversion. 

In the first place, that this river, traversing 
a vast region which is almost level, before it 
reaches the inhabited places, acquires no fatal 
impetuosity in its course ; that when arrived in 
Lower Louisiana, the country possessingless ac- 
clivity, if it be possible, than the preceding, 
it runs there with less force than before; the 
windings too, which the river makes, and the 
frequent angles and protuberances of its banks, 
concurring at the same time to constrain its im- 
petuosity. Its volume of v/ater too, is conside- 
rably enfeebled and diminished, by a subtrac- 
tion made of a great part on the left bank, by 
the formation of the Manchac arm, or other- 
wise the Iberville river, which discharges it- 
self ^into lake Pontchartrain, and on the right 
bank, by the Ichafalaya, Plaquemine, and 
Fourche, of which the two first empty them- 
selves into lakes, towards the south-west end 

B 



14 

of the colony, and frontiers of New Mexico, 
and the last, into the ocean, on this side of the 
lakes. 

In the second place, it is to be remarked, that 
the land, being more elevated on the banks of 
the river than in the interior of the country, 
(with the exception of some insulated spots) 
has, in consequence, towards the interior, and 
the lakes, a small, but uninterrupted declivity ; 
which, procuring to the river, in its inundation, 
an easy opening, tempers its violence, and shel- 
ters the country from the ravages and devasta- 
tion, which would otherwise result from the 
choaking up of the waters. Inasmuch as that 
in this country, by a remarkable peculiarity, the 
river which washes it, and menaces it with de- 
struction, cannot destroy it by a general deluge; 
as the surface of its waters is higher than that 
of the adjacent land ; and, in its overflowings, 
a declivity every where encounters and opposes 
its force. 

This, I think, is one of the great causes which 
explains the rareness of the inundations of this 
mighty river, and the harmless consequences 
ensuing from them, in proportion to the infer- 
ence of danger, naturally drawn from appear- 



15 

ances. And, hence, the undisturbed tranquil- 
lity of the inhabitants on its banks ; who, with- 
out reflection, or a desire to trace effects to their 
causes, dwell, with perfect unconsciousness of 
danger, and entertain no apprehension from 
the great stream, whose superficies, exceeding, 
by several feet, the level of their habitations, 
rolls and thunders above their heads. 

Notwithstanding, many philosophers concur 
in opinion, that if, during the highest elevation 
of the waters of the river, when it washes the 
brim of the shores, and involves in its progress, 
branches and entire trees ; if, during that pe- 
riod, a hurricane v/as to rage,^ it is probable, 
that horrible conequences would ensue; that 
the wind, swelling the river above its banks, 
would overturn the soil in a general deluge. 
But happily, the union of these circumstances, 
if not impossible, is highly improbable; The 
hurricanes never prevail before August, when 
the river begins to fall. 

The planters avail themselves of the waters 
of the river, during its highest elevation, to soak 
and drown the rice-fields, by the means of 

* Hurricanes are not unknown to Louisiana ; but they have 
always happened when the Mississippi was in a state of 
depression. 



16 



drains ; stnd, by the means of canals which re- 
ceive the water and discharge it at the distance 
of forty French acres, in the bottom of the 
swamps, they also put in motion a great number 
of saw-mills. The same practice might be used 
to ^^'ater the sugar cane plantations ; but 
rlie fresh and humid, property of the soil 
renders unnecessary a resource so much 
practised and almost indispensable at the An- 
tilles. During this elevation, the water of 
t!ie river, which insinuates itself into the in- 
terior of the country, reaches so nearly the 
superficies of its banks, that, in agitating it at 
certain places, it will spout out and run over. 
An exception to the proverb which affirms 
that the water goes always to the river. On the 
contrary, the waters of the river fdtrating al- 
ways w^ith force through the soil, penetrate 
abundantly into the drains, and form an as- 
semblage of currents which lose themselves 
in a remote part of the country, in a kind of ba- 
ains named Bayoux. At this period, in navi- 
gating tlie river, the surface of the water ap- 
pears to the mariner on a level with the tops 'of 
the houses ; these houses are built within a hun- 
dred yards of the banks, and about three hun- 
dred from each other. 



ir 

The inhabitants drink no other water than 
that of the river ; in fact, there is no other here 
drinkable, and they make no use of cisterns. 
They drink it filtrated, or after it has deposited 
its sediment. Before this operation, in its natur- 
al state, it is disagreeable to the palate, at least 
to those who are not accustomed to it ; nor is its 
insipid raw taste more repugnant than the saf- 
fron colour it acquires from its sediment. 
Otherwise, it appears to possess no noxious pro- 
perties, notwithstanding the river is the recepta- 
cle of immense filth, and a thousand dead beasts 
are thrown into it, v/hatever malady may have 
caused their death. But whatever the water 
may be, the Creoles of the country m.ake a 
pompous eulogium of it, attributing to it the 
rarest and most salubrious properties. 

There exists no easy communication from 
one bank of the river to the other ; no ferry- 
boats cross over at regulated prices ; the chief 
obstacle seems to be, the quantity of wood and 
trees hurried along the river at its period of 
elevation. Hence, these two parts of the colony 
may remain distinct and unconnected in their 
interests. This defect of communication, which 
is only partially obviated by canoes, will con- 
duce to keep the right shore of the river, that is 

B 2 



18 

Louisiana, in a state less active and flourishing 
than the left, or West Florida ; and to the latter, 
is superadded the incalculable advantage of pos- 
sessing the sole entrepot of the colony, the 
central point towards which all trade inclines, 
the mart of all the commerce — New Orleans. 

After having thus spoken of the Mississippi, 
of that admirable river to which we shall fre- 
quently recur in the progress of this work, as 
the most interesting object of the country j let 
us traverse its borders, and see what they pre- 
sent. 



CHAPTER III. 



SETTLEMENTS ON THE BANKS OF THE MISSIS- 
SIPPI IN THE LOWER PART OF THE COLO- 
NY, AND DESCRIPTION OF 
NEW-ORLEANS. 



X HE tract which presents itself for the first 
twenty leagues on the two banks of the river, 
supplies only an aspect, monotonous, sad, and 
uninviting. A low and swampy shore, in many- 
parts, drowned by the river, uninhabited and 
uninhabitable, where only a wild and mishapen 
vegetation subsists ; wet rushes, or trees whose 
trunks stand in the mud, and are covered with 
divers reptiles, and troublesome insects, such, 
for instance, as musquitoes, and those cruel tor- 
mentors on which the natives have bestowed 
the significant appellation of gallinippers ; such 
is the picture that offers in this vast space, at the 
first entrance into the colon}\ 

It is about fifteen leagues below New-Orleans, 
that the settlements on the colony commence, 
which comprehend a tongue of land susceptible 
only of cultivation between the river and the 



20 

swamps* After which, advancing confusedly 
beyond the elbow which forms the bend of the 
river called Le Detour des Anglais, and is so 
difficult to double, a small number of saw-mills, 
some sugar-houses, and spots where vegetables 
are cultivated, disposed in a file one after ano- 
other along the river's bank, present themselves 
to view.* 

At length, after eight or nine days navigation, 

the vessel which transports you advancing 

slowly, sometimes by oars, and sometimes by 

sails, you arrive and anchor before New-Or- 

1 eans.f 

New-Orleans is situated in the thirtieth de- 
gree of north latitude, and the ninetieth degree 

west longitude from the meridian of Green- 
wich, on the east side of the Mississippi, thirty- 
five leagues from the sea. In following the 

* Tliese plantations ai-e yet thin, and owned by the poorest 
people. Ascending-, you see them improve on each side, till 
you reach New-Orleans Trans, 

f The usual distance accomplished by a boat in ascending-, is 
five leagues per day. The rapidity of the current in the spring- 
season, when the waters of all the rivers are high, facilitates the 
descent, so that the same voyage by water, which requires tliree 
or four months to perforai from the capital, may be made to it 
in from twelve to sixteen days...„.Trans. 



21 

course of the river, it is built on its left bank, 
on an island dependant upon West Florida, and 
formed by the Gulf of Mexico, lake Pontchar- 
train, the Manchac, or river Iberville, and the 
Mississippi. This island is about sixty leagues 
long ; its breadth varies from two to fifteen 
leagues. But the major part of this tract offers 
insurmountable obstacles to cultivation, and is 
even uninhabitable, on account of the vast 
swamps with which it is intersected, and the 
physical impossibility to drain them, and purge 
a soil like that of Lower Louisiana, 

The river forms before the city, a large creek, 
or kind of semi-circular bason, here and there 
widening. It is an equivalent for a port on the 
east, where vessels anchor close to one another ; 
and so near the water-side, that by means of a 
couple of forts, in the form of a bridge, there is 
an easy communication from land to each ves- 
sel, and their cargoes are discharged w^ith the 
grea.test ease. 

The depth of the river, taken at the middle 
of its bed, in front of the city, is about forty 
fathoms ; about half a century ago, its depth 
at the same place was seventy fathoms. Hence 
it follows, (if these measurements be not faulty) 
that the bed of the river loses in depth what 



22 

it gains in breadth: it is considerably wider 
than it was. Its breadth, estimated at the same 
place, is about five hundred fathoms, propor- 
tionate to the elevation and depression of its 
waters. 

Behind the city is a communication by wa- 
ter with the lake Pontchartrain, which is not 
more than two leagues distant, in a right line, 
towards the north-east, from whence small ves- 
sels come up with sails, by the way of the Bayou 
Saint John, which there empties itself. At this 
confluence is an open canal, vrhich was made 
some years ago, under the direction of Mons. 
de Carondelet, a work truly useful ; which, in 
procuring to the city the advantages of a dou- 
ble port, purged and drained the neighbouring 
swamps. Formerly, those very vessels navi- 
gated the canal, which now anchor before the 
city ; but, it having been neglected since the 
departure of the governor, it has lost its ad- 
vantages in being choaked up ; and, it is now 
the receptacle of only the most diminutive 
barks. 

The city is about three thousand six hun- 
dred feet in length. To which may be super- 
added the suburbs, extending, like the city, a- 
long the river, and about half as long. But, 



23 

strictly speaking, both the city and suburbs are 
mere outlines, the greatest part of the houses 
being constructed of wood, having but one 
story, erected often on blocks, and roofed with 
shingles ; the whole being of a very combusti- 
ble wood, that is, of cypress.* Hence, this city 
has been twice on fire, accidentally, in the in- 
terval of a small number of years, in the month 
of March 1788, and the month of December 
1794. Yet, notwithstanding, the inhabitants 
every day build wooden-houses, regardless of 
consequences. 

There are a few houses, more solid and less 
exposed, on the banks of the river, and in the 
front streets. Those houses are of burnt brick ; 
some one, others two stories high, having the 

* Tlie city is laid out on Penn's regular, but monotonous 
plan, with the streets crossing- each other at right angles. 
The number of houses may be computed at about fom*teen 
hundi'ed, and the area of the city about three hundi'ed acres ; 
the whole of which, however, is not built over, as many of the 
squares, at the noilli-west eiid, are totally void of houses. The 
principal buildings are as near tlie river as the plan of the city 
will admit ; and houses situated near this spot, are of more 
value tlian those situated farther back fi'om the Mississippi. 
The houses are raised about seven or eight feet from the earth, 
to malie room for tlie cellars, which are on a level with tlie 
ground ; for no business can be cai'ried on below its surface, 
on account of the suiTounding wata's Trans. 



24 

upper part furnished with an open gallery, which 
surrounds the building. In the heart of the 
town, and the suburbs, one sees nothing but 
barracks. 

The streets are well laid out, and tolerably 
spacious ; but that is all. Bordered by a foot- 
way of four or five feet, and throughout unpav- 
cd, walking is inconvenient : but what more 
particularly incommodes the foot-passenger is, 
the projecting flight of steps before every door. 
The streets being flat, the filth from the houses 
remains where it was thrown j and, during a 
great part of the year, they are a common sewer ; 
a sink of nastiness, dirt, and corruption. 

With regard to the public buildings, there 
are only the Hotel de Ville, and the Parochial 
Church,* both built of brick ; the former has, 
however, but one story. They stand near each 
other, on a spot contigious to the river. At 
both times, when the city was on fire, they 
off'ered asylums to the inhabitants ; many seek- 
ing refuge under their roofs, instead of exert- 
ing themselves to extinguish the flames. 

* This church is a plain brick building of the ionic order, and 
is the best edifice in the place Trans. 



25 



Nearly in the centre of the town is a small 
theatre,* where, on my arrival, I saw several 
dramas performed with considerable ability. 
The company was composed of half a dozen 
actors and actresses, refugees from the theatre 
of Cape Francais, in the islafhd of St. Domin 
go. Nor is this the first instance of Louisia- 
na having profited by the calamities of that 
island. 

But by some misunderstanding between the 
civil and military of the colony, and the indif- 
ference of the citizens and colonists, the thea- 
trical troop has been dispersed, and the theatre 
shut. Not long ago, however, some of the ci- 
tizens were seized with a fit of play-acting, and 
a display of their dramatic talents was made in 
the representation of the Death of Caesar. 
They in consequence stabbed with great vi- 
gour, rage, and perseverance, this enemy of 
Roman liberty in the person of an old colo- 
nist, bald headed from years, and corpulent 
with good living. The venerable colonist sus- 
tained his part well. But the spectators, who 
could not yield themselves to the theatrical il- 

* This little theatre is built of wood, and consists of one row 
of boxes only, with a pit and g-allery. The inhabitants of New- 
Orleam are muscal, and gentlemen often perform in the or- 

chestra of the theatre Trans. 

c 



26 



lusion, ceased not to see, throughout the repre- 
sentation, in the hero of ancient Rome raised 
from the dead, and transported from the banks 
of the Tiber to those of the Mississippi ; they 
did not cease a moment to behold the venerable 
and portly Mr. B******. 

In winter, during the Carnaval, there is a pub- 
lic ball open twice a week, one day for grown 
people, and another for children. It is nothing 
but a kind of hall made out of a huge barrack, 
and stands in such an unfortunate part of the ci- 
ty, that it is only accessible through mud and 
mire. Each side is accommodated with boxes, 
where the mamas form a tapestry, and where la- 
dies of younger date, who come merely as specta- 
tors, are accommodated with seats. The latter, 
in irony, are called Bredouilles. But these Bre- 
douilles often find their passions raised so 
high by the scene before them, that they can- 
not rest satisfied with passively looking on. An- 
imated by the voluptuous attitudes, and signi- 
ficant looks of the dancers, they frequently de- 
scend into the scene of pleasure, the face, neck, 
and bosom suifused with crimson, and, giving 
their hands to the first partners that offer, go 
down the dance with the rest, panting and pal- 
pitating. The musicians are half a dozen gypsies, 



27 



or else people of colour, scraping their fiddles 
with all their might. 

The room is miserably lighted ; no chande- 
liers, but simple candles. In short the ensemble 
is so wretched, that every emulation of embel- 
lishment would be ridiculous. 

It is hither, in the months of January and Fe- 
bruary, but seldom sooner or later, that the in- 
habitants repair, men and women, to forget 
their cares in dancing ; nor will they tire at 
their country dances, grosso modo^ from seven 
at night till cock-crowing the next morning. The 
price of admittance into this temple of Terpsi- 
chore is four dutch shillings, or half a piastre 
for every individual. Every white person in a 
decent garb, is admitted for this sum. But the 
dancing is afterwards engrossed by a certain num- 
ber of persons who preconcert the business. This 
species of monopoly is often productive of un- 
happy consequences. The respectable mother 
of a family in this country, owes to it the loss 
of her only son, a youth of the most promising 
talents and acquirements. He had lately return- 
ed from Europe, and resented with becoming 
spirit the monopoly of an amusement which 
was designed to be general. A meeting took 



28 



place between him and one of the dancers the 
next day, they fought with swords, and the 
youth was run through the body. 

An affair of more notoriety is still fresh in the 
recollection of the inhabitants. The eldest son 
of the governor, not liking the French country 
dances, or else acquitting himself ill in them, 
lost no occasion to substitute for them the Eng- 
lish country dances ; an innovation the com- 
pany tolerated from deference for his distinguish- 
ed rank. This act of complaisance in the as- 
sembly was misunderstood by the youthful 
Spaniard ; he abused it grossly. A number of 
French country dances being formed, and the 
dancers beginning to move, behold our young 
illustrious Spaniard calls out, " Contre-danses 
Anglaises /" and the dancers inflamed at his want 
of moderation, ordered the music to play on, 
exclaiming unanimously, Contre-danses Fran- 
caises ! The son of the governor soon found 
partizans, who joined with him in the cry of 
'' Contre-danses Anglaises /" while the dancers, 
firm to their purpose, reiterated " Contre-danses 
Francaises /" It was confusion worse confounded^ 
a vociferation without end. At length the illus- 
trious Spaniard fmding the dancers obstinate, 
called out to the fiddlers, " Cease playing, you 



29 



rascals !'' The fiddlers instantly obeyed. The 
party of the young governor gained strength. 
The officer who was stationed with a guard ot 
soldiers to maintain order in the place, thought 
only of enforcing the will of the illustrious Span- 
iard ; he ordered his men to fix their bayonets, 
and disperse the dancers. The scene now beggar- 
ed all description. Women shrieking and wring- 
ing their hands, girls fainting and falling on the 
floor, men cursing and unsheathing their swords. 
On one side grenadiers with fixed bayonets stood 
in a hostile attitude ; on the other the gallant 
dancers were opposed with drawn swords. Du- 
ring this squabble and uproar, how did a num- 
ber of Americans act, who were present at the 
ball? Men of a pacific nature, and habituated 
to neutrality, they neither advocatedf the French 
nor English country dances. They ran to the 
assistance of the fair ladies who had fainted away ; 
and, loaded with their precious burdens, carried 
them through drawn swords and fixed bayonets to 
a place of safety. Mr. D*****, a French mer- 
chant of the city, running to the succour of his 
wife, found her senseless in the arms of four 
Americans. 

■f I introduce advocate as a verb with a hesitating hand. It 
is not authorised by any of those writers whose works are con- 
sidered the Wells of English Undefiled....Trans. 
c 2 



30 



It was at the moment a conflict was about to 
take place, and the farce of the governor's son 
was likely to terminate in a tragedy, that three 
young Frenchmen, lately arrived from Europe, 
mounted the orchestra and harangued the crowd. 
They spoke with an eloquence prompted by the 
occasion. They declaimed on the superiority of 
concord over dissention ; they entreated, conju- 
red, and exhorted the parties, as they respected 
the safety, preservation, and lives of the ladies 
not to make a field of battle of a place that was 
consecrated to soft dehght. Their exhortations 
restored peace and harmony to the society ; and 
to the eloquence of these youthful mentors may be 
applied aptly the line of the roman poet. 

lUe regit dlctis animos et pectora mulcet. 
By godlike Orat'ry's persuasive charms. 
Their minds he governs, and their rage disarms. 

The balj was even resumed, and continued in 
the presence of the governor, who had arrived 
to calm the tumult of the assembly. The field of 
battle remained in possession of the advocates for 
the French country dances, and the officer of the 
guard was put under arrest. 

What I have here represented is founded on 
facts. It wiU serve to place in a just light 
the emphatical eulogiums pronounced on this 



31 



ball by the inhabitants, in the presence of 
strangers. In the extravagance of praise, they 
maintain it transcends the Riclotto at Venice, 
the Vauxhall of London, and the Opera at Paris. 
It is time to pull down this fabric of vain glor)', 
and reduce their ball to its real standard. Such 
ought to be the object of a traveller ; rot to exhibit 
things through a prism, which distorts while it 
embellishes, but to shew them as they really are. 
I persuade myself I shall not merit the application 
of the proverb incurred by so many travellers. // 
fait beau mentir qui vient de loin,\ 

What more shall I say of the city and its institu- 
tions ? Shall I name its Military Hospital, or 
Royal Hospital, if you like the term better ? It is 
a poor structure. Shall I describe the Charitable 
Hospital ?J It IS more deserving of notice. Must 
I make mention of Fort St. Charles, and its pre- 

f It is to no purpose that a traveller tells lies, for in virtue of 
his profession he will not be believed. Whether our traveller 
ever violates truth or not, let the people of New-Orleans deter- 
mine. But this is a fact w^hich no one will dispute, that his great- 
est enemies cannot accuse him of flattery. I g-uess, if he ever 
leaves again the banks of the Seine, it wiU not be for those of 
the Mississippi Trans. 

I Belonging to this Hospital there is an annual revenue of 

1500 dollars, endowed by an individual lately deceased State 

papers, page 19. 



32 



tended ramparts ^ It would provoke the risibility 
of an engineer. Shall I pry into the recesses of the 
convent of nuns ? It is composed of forty sisters. 
All these are buildings of the meanest order. Nor 
can the city boast an exchange, a college, or a li- 
brary. || 

In the suburbs have been established two impor- 
tant manufactories, two cotton mills and a sugar 
bake-house. That of the cotton mills is concentra- 
ted in the same work shop ; a thousand weight of 
cotton is cleaned, packed, weighed and delivered 
in a day. Both these useful inventions owe their 
origin to some French refugees from St. Domin- 
go. 

§ This fortification consists of five bastions regularly laid 
«ut, and is furnished with a banquette, rampart, parapet, ditch, 
covert way, g-lacis ; the curtines are nothing more than aline of 
paHisades about four feet high, which are set at a small dis- 
tance from one another, and consequently penetrable by amus- 
quet ball. None of the bastions mount above four or five pieces 
of cannon. 

^ It is not in young countries that -we are to expect much 
taste for literatxu-e. Emigrants to such places are generally men 
of a speculative tui-n ; it is not the muses but Mammon 
they worship. Look at our United States. Did ever a review 
or magazine live to any kind of maturity P If any thing succeeds- 
it is a folio of four pages, viz. a newspaper... .Trans. 



33 



The population of the city and suburbs may be 
estimated at about ten thousand individuals of 
both sexes, and all ages, of whom four thousand 
are whites, between two and three thousand freed 
people of colour, and the rest slaves. In this enu- 
meration I do not comprehend from seven to eight 
hundred men who compose the garrison of the ci- 
ty, nor those attached to the marine and merchant 
service, nor strangers who are not residents. 

Census of the City of New-Orleans^ extracted 
from State Documents. 



Date 


Quarters. 


Whites. 


Free people 
of colour. 


Sla 

ves. 


To- 
tal. 


1803 


First Quarter 
Second Qiiarter. 
Third Qiiarter. 
Fourth Qixai-ter. 
Sub. of St. Charles. 
Do. of St. Louis. 


745 
891 
722 
440 
70 
380 

3248 
700 

3948 


203 

787 
219 

126 

1335 


546 
951 
579 
225 
170 
302 

2773 


1494 

1842 

2088 

884 

240 

808 

735& 
700 

8056 



N. B. This Census underrates the population. 
The number of free people of colour in the Se- 
cond quarter not being included . 



24 



Every article of subsistence that the country 
produces has, in the space of a few years, been 
almost doubled in value, and is becoming every 
day more dear at New-Orleans, partly owing to 
the great influx of emigrants, pardy to the pre- 
ference the culture of cotton claims over that of 
rice, and partly to the multiplication of those 
alimentary, vegetable and animal productions 
which were formerly the object of labour. Inso- 
much that a barrel of bruised rice sells now at 
the New-Orleans market at from eight to nine 
piasters ; a quarter of indian corn in the ear 
one piaster ; a turkey from one and a half piasters 
to two piasters : a capon from six escalins* to a 
piaster; a hen from four to five escalins ; a fowl 
twenty-five sols or a quarter of a piaster ; a pair 
of small pigeons three escalins ; a dozen of 
eggs twenty-five sols, and all other articles at a 
proportionate rate. 

The current coins of the city, as well as of the 
whole colony, are as follows : In gold, the quad- 
ruple value sixteen piasters ; the half quadruple 
eight piasters, and some other pieces of less 
value, but all scarce enough : in silver, the dol- 
lar piaster, value eight escalins or a hundred sols ; 
the half-piaster value four escalins or fifty sols ; 
* Eleven escalins make a dollar. 



35 



the quarter of a piaster or gourdin, value two 
shillings or twenty-five sols, the escalin value 
twelve and a half sols j and the picaillon or half 
escalin value six sols and a quarter. It is to be 
noticed that this estimation by sous is only ideal, 
there being no copper money in use. 

Such is New-Orleans at the present era. It 
deserves rather the name of a great straggling 
town, than of a city ; though even to merit that ti- 
tle, it would be required to be longer . In fact, the 
mind can, I think, scarcely image to itself a 
more disagreeable place on the face of the whole 
globe ; it is disgusting in whatever point of 
view it be contemplated, both as a whole, sepa- 
rately, and the wild, brutish aspect of its suburbs. 
Yet it is the only town in the whole colony, and, 
in the ardour of admiration, it is called by the 
inhabitants the capital, the city ! 

It must however be acknowledged that New- 
Orleans is destined by nature to become one of 
the principal cities of North America, and per- 
haps the most important place of commerce in 
the new world, if it can only maintain the incal- 
culable advantage of being the sole entrepot and 
central point of a country almost flat, immense 
in its extent, of which the Mississippi is the 



36 



great receptacle of its produce, and where the 
soil is fertile, the climate generally salubrious, 
and the population increasing beyond all former 
example.f If the advantages of its situation be 
duly considered, the most sanguine mind cannot 
but predict its future greatness, wealth and pros- 
perity, 

f The Mississippi first acquires importance in the latitude of 
forty -five north. It flows in a devious coiu'se above two thoU' 
sand miles, and enters the Bay of Mexico, by many mouths, in 
latitude 29. In these latitudes is comprized the temperate zone, 
which has been always deemed most favorable to the peifection 
of animal and vegetable nature. This advantage is not 
marred by the sterilify'mg influence of lofty mountains, the pes- 
tilential fumes cf intractable bogs, or the dreary uniformity of 
sandy plains. Through the whole extent there is not a snow- 
capt hill, a moving sand, or a volcanic eminence. 

This valley is of different breadths. The ridge wlilch bounds 
it on the east, is, in some places, nearly a thousand miles from 
the great middle stream. From this ridge secondary rivers of 
great extent and magnificence flow towards the centre, and the 
intermediate regions are an uncultivated paradise. On the 
west the valley is of similar dimensions, the streams are equal- 
ly large and useful, and tlie condition of the surface equally de- 
lightful. 

There cannot be imagined a district more favorable to settle- 
ment In addition to a genial climate and soil, there are tlie ut- 
most facilities of communication and commerce. The whole 
district is the sloping side of a valley, through which run deep 
and navigable rivers, which begin their course in the remotest 
borders, and which all terminate in the centi-al sti-eam. This 



sr 



There is no other town, or even village, in 
the whole extent of Lower Louisiana, whether 
on the banks of the river, or the various cantons 

stream, one of the longest and widest in the world, is remarka- 
bly distinguished by its depth and freedom from natural im- 
pediments. It flows into a gulf, which contains a great num- 
ber of populous islands. Among these islands are numerous 
passages into the ocean which washes the shores of Europe. 
Thus, not only every part of the district is easily accessible by 
means of rivers, but the same channels are ready to convey the 
products of eveiy quarter to markets the most contiguous and 
most rem(. (.e. 

Fancy in her happiest mood cannot combine all the felicities 
of natm-e and society in a more absolute degree than will be ac- 
tually combined when the valley of the Mississippi shall be long 
enough included with the American states. Not one of the 
impecUments to opulepxe will be found here. Not one of the ad- 
vantages, the least of which have made other regions the envy 
and admiration of mankind, will here be wanting. 

The Nile flov.-s in a-torrid climate through a long and narrow 
valley. The fertility which its annual inundations produce, ex- 
tends only two or three leagues on either side of it. The bene- 
fits of this fertility are marred by the neighborhood of scorching 
sands, over which the gales caiTy intolerable heat and incurable 
pestilence, and which harbour a race of savages wliose trade is 
war and pillage. The gi'eater Nile of the western hemisphere 
diffuses by its inundations the fertility of Egypt twenty leagues 
from its shores, and occupies a valley wider than from the Duna 
to the Rhine, flowing among the most beautiful dales, and 
t;nder the benignest seasons. 

The territories of Great Britain in India, produce nothing 
which the territory of the Mississippi could not as easily pix)- 
Quce. The Ganges fertilizes a valley less extensive. Its Deltas, 



38 

scattered more remote. For one would not 
surely dignify with the name of town the estab- 
lishment of Pensacola. When the English had 
possession of the place, it wore the aspect of a 
snug town, but since it has fallen under the do- 
mination of Spain, it has never been better than 
a mere military post. 



these rivers generate the same exuberant soil, only in smaller 
space and less quantities than the American Nile : but the Mis* 
sissippi comprehends in its bosom the regions of the temperate 
zone as well as the tropical climates and products. 

A nation could not bury itself in a more accessible fortress 
than this valley. The mouths of the river, as to all attacks by 
sea, are better than the bastions of Malta. All around the en- 
trance IS impassable to men and horses, and the great channel 
is already barred by forts, easily extended and improred. 

But the grand advantage which flows to the American States 
from the possession of the Mississippi is, that the door is open 
to Mexico, and the valuable mines and prov nces of Spain ai'e 
exposed to an easy invasion. The Spanish possessions lie on 
the west and south, The road to them is eas}- and direct. They 
are m holly defenceless. The frontier has neither forts, nor al- 
lies, nor subjects. To march over them is to conquer. A de- 
tachment of a few thousands would find faithful guides, practi- 
cable roads, and no opposition between the banks of the Missis« 
sippi and the gates of Mexico. The unhappy race whom Spain 
has enslaved, are without arms and without spirit ; or their 
spirit would prompt them to befriend the invader. They would 
hail the Americans as deliverers, and execrate the ministers of 
Spain as t}rants. 

(Translated from a French pamphlet (I believe a very scarce 
one) published at Paris.) Translator. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
WHITE CREOLES OF LOUISIANA. 



X HE greatest part of the whites who inhabit 
this colony, is composed of Creoles or natives, the 
rest is a mixture of French, Spaniards, Germans, 
Americans, &c. 

The Creoles of Louisiana, male and female, 
are generally of a middle stature, well formed, 
f«id rather robust than slender. Thej^ are seldom 
fresh coloured ; one sees few faces purpled over 
w^ith the ruddy hue of health. I'hey are rather 
fair than brown^ and their hair is commonly light 
from their infancy, or if changed by years, attains 
to a chesnut. 

The women of this country are pecuHarly the 
favourites of nature. Their skin, without being 
of a ravishing white, is fair ; their features 
though irregular, are agreeable ; their lips are of 
a blushing red, their bosoms are heaving snows, 
their eyes blue and voluptuous, and their fair hair 
is often long enough to fall almost to their feet. . 



40 



The women, however, are not remarkable for 
that grace, that elegance, that ease, in a word that 
je ne sais quo'i^ a charm to be felt but not describ- 
ed, which the French ladies so eminently possess. 

The women, considered morally, are superior to 
the men. They have more penetration. Though 
quite as ill instructed, their ignorance is not so 
apparent. To them also belongs the practice of 
hospitality. When a stranger of any gentility goes 
into a house and requests shelter, it is the mis- 
tress who receives him and does the honours of 
the place. The master, if he sits dowti with his 
guest, is upon thorns ; he leaves him without ce- 
remony to be entertained by his wife, and goes 
about his business. The being that can think, 
will always be superior to him who can only la- 
bour. Hence the Louisianian wives acquire an 
ascendancy over their Creole husbands. 

When an European, however, joins himself to 
one of these women, the scene is different. In- 
fluenced by example they aspire at the government. 
But, to use a vulgar phrase, an European husband 
not being quite so easy, will not suffer them to 
wear the breeches. Hence those jars and con- 
flicts, that squabbling and scolding, that are wit- 
nessed by the river god, and resound from the 
banks of the distiurbed Mississippi. One sees in 



41 

the countiT, but oftenef in the town, a great num- 
ber of females, who are neither maids, nor wives, 
nor widows ; but who, finding their European 
husbands would not cede to them the empire, 
have beaten a retreat, determined not to yield to 
a superior. 

In other respects the Lousianian women have 
a number of good qualities. They are respecta- 
ble daughters, affectionate wives, and tender mo- 
thers, skilled in domestic economy, frugal, modest 
and reserved. Ought not a husband, blessed 
with one of these fair spirits for a wife, to make 
a sacrifice of his authority to preserve peace in his 
house ? What man in his senses would disdain 
the government of a seraph form, or not obey 
sweet mandates from cherub lips ? But husbands 
are fools on this subject. They begin with dis- 
cussions and end with divorce. 

It is, perhaps, owing to this cause that there 
are so few marriages in Louisiana. The country 
ajpounds in fine girls, who languish in celibacy, 
and of whom many will never have husbands but 
in their dreams. Marriage for these unfortunate 
vestals is the cup of Tantalus. 

Besides, the number of girls in the colony great- 
ly exceeds that of boys. The birth of a boy 
D 2 



42 



creates rejoicings ; that of a girl, is looked upon 
as another weight put into the scale that already 
preponderates too much. 

The female Creoles being in general without edu- 
cation, can possess no taste for reading, music or 
drawing ; but they are passionately fond of danc- 
ing. They will pass whole nights in succession 
at this exercise. 

They are very prolific, bear early and long. 
They are seldom married seven years without 
having half a dozen children, and sometimes more ; 
they are still young, fresh, healthy, and usually 
complete the dozen. It is a very common thing 
for the mother and daughter to be big at the same 
time J sometimes the grand-daughter figures in 
the scene, and makes a trio of big bellies. 

The Creoles say the Mississippi water, which 
they drink, has a tendency to make them prolific. 
It is a fact, that women who in other parts of the 
world could never breed, have become pregnant 
in a year after their arrival in Louisiana. 

The rarity of marriages is lamentable, when v/e 
consider the aptitude to propagation peculiar to 
the country. During the two years and a half 
that I resided in the colony, there were not thirty 



43 



marriages within thirty leagues of New-Orleans, 
and comprehended in that space, there were at 
least six hundred white girls from fourteen to five 
and twenty, comely, healthy and capable of ful- 
filling the precept of increase and multiply. 

The ladies of New-Orleans dress themselves 
with taste. In the short space of a few years, the 
change in their dress from rusticity to elegance is 
really astonishing. Only three years ago, they 
almost all wore disgusting round short petticoats,* 
long gowns with sweeping trains, without any 
earthly taste in the colour of their garments. 
Such glaring flaring ribbons, such flaunting top 
knots ; in short all their finery was mixed with 
such frippery as could not but provoke the smiles 
of a man acquainted w^ith the dress of real high 
life. They now feel the ridicule of such a cos- 
tume. Their present dress recommends them. 
They have been taught by the example of a few 
female Parisians, to sacrifice to the graces in the 
choice of their clothes, and manner of adjust- 
ment. Their gowns suit their shapes, they have 
thrown away their stays, and the gauze shades, but 
does not conceal their heaving beauties.^ 

* Jupes rondes et comtes. 

f It is the peculiar felicity of a Frenchman to discuss sub- 
jects the most profound, and assist with skill at the toilettes ot 
the ladies ....Trans. 



44 



The women in the country are less pompous 
in their apparel. But they love it equally well. 
Their little hearts beat with tumult at the sight of 
a new dress, that has the character of being fash- 
ionable. Their waists are every day getting short, 
their arms more naked, and their bosoms more 
bare. 

A custom peculiar to this country, is, when any 
onfe falls sick'^ to transport him to New-Orleans, 
however remote it may be. A physician or sur- 
geon among the planters would find no encourage- 
ment ; instead of having a dinner to eat, he would 
count the trees of the forest. They are content 
with a few books on the science of medicine, 
which they are perpetually thumbing over, such 
as the works of Tissot, Buchan,^ and hoc genus 
omnc. At the first symptoms of sickness, they 
hold the book in one hand, and mix up medicines 
with the other. But often mistaken in their prog- 

* I had long the honor of Dr. Buchan's acquaintance in 
London. His upright figure, silver locks and prominent nose 
impressed respect. He lodged at a hair-dresser's next door 
to the Chapter, and was such a constant attendant at the coffee- 
house, that when it was once put up for sale, a wag placed his 
name among the fixtures of the catalogue Trans. 



45 



nostics and diagnostics, and making an apotheca- 
ry's shop of the throat of the patient, they often 
bring that indisposition to a serious malady, which 
a few simples, or even nature left to herself would 
have cured. Then the market cart is brought out, 
Dobbin is harnessed, and the sick person is jolted 
from the plantation to the city. 

It is for the profound gentlemen of the faculty, 
to decide whether this transportation of twenty or 
more miles has not an injurious tendency. Whe- 
ther it be conforming to the precepts of Hippo- 
crates to drag a sick man out of his bed, place 
him in an uneasy vehicle, and persevere in a day's 
journey, scarcely stopping to rest ? I suspect the 
physicians of New-Orleans would advocate the 
practice. It is their interest to countenance it, and 
hence that city is a hospital of sick ; those gen- 
tleman every day behold the sick presenting them- 
selves at their doors, as customers repair to the 
shop of the baker. They meet together, press 
the pulse, look very profound, shake their noddles, 
administer physic, and send in their bills. 

Hence no profession is so lucrative at New- 
Orleans as that of a physician. But a physician 
there is also a surgeon, apothecary and man-mid- 
wife. As the demon of the day* decrees, he pre- 
scribes, phlebotomizes, mixes medicine and -uses 
the forceps. 



46 



The women are not less infatuated than the men. 
When the full projection of their shape admon- 
ishes that the time of deposing their burthen is at 
hand, they repair also to New-Orleans. They 
have been taught to believe that a safe delivery 
can only be expected from a surgeon ; and thus 
they submit that operation to a man, which not 
only from delicacy, but from superior female 
tenderness and dexterity, belongs to a woman ; 
experience does not justify them in this prefer- 
ence. Whatever may be the cause, whether the 
ignorance of the surgeons, or the humidity of 
the atmosphere, together with the little care the 
women take of themselves before and after deliv- 
ery, there is no place where lying-in is more fatal 
than in the town of New-Orleans. 

Luxury within a dozen years, has made great 
progress through the colony. Every thing in the 
town is tinctured with ostentation. An air of 
expense distinguishes the apparel, vehicles, fur- 
niture of the inhabitants. Simplicity has taken 
flight, parade has usurped its place. This luxury 
is dangerous in a rich nation, but to regions ever 
doomed to mediocrity it is a mortal poison. 

When I speak of luxury, I use it as a relative 
term. What is luxury at New-Orleans, would 
not have been thought such at Cape Francois be« 



4r 

fore its calamity* Luxury is the extension of a 
man's expense beyond his means. As the re* 
sourctS) therefore, of these people bear no pro- 
portion to their expenses, they are infe cted with 
luxury. 

Luxury and corruption go hand in hand. This 
is strongly exemplified at New- Orleans by the 
number of white infants, the fruit of illicit com- 
merce, exposed nightly in the streets, a maternal 
sacrifice to false honour. One of these unfortu- 
nate babes was found last winter by an Indian wo- 
man, exposed to the rigours of an inclement night. 
She was attracted to the spot by its cries ; she in- 
stantly pressed the child to her heart, gave it the 
breast, took it home to her family, and adopted 
the little foundling abandoned by the world, and 
devoted to death. What a contrast of sentiment 
and conduct, humiliating to the one, and glorious 
to the other ; and what consequences are to be de- 
duced from a practice so frequent and notorious ! 

The society of New-Orleans is not desirable. 
The inhabitants assemble, not to enjoy the 
flow of soul, but from motives of ostentation. 
It is a good dress, not a good heart that concil- 
iates; one never finds a reciprocity of senti- 
ment, or an interchange of reason. It is too a 
tessellated pavement ; here a Creole, there an 



48 



Englishman j here a Frenchman, there a Span- 
iard ; here a German, there an Italian. It is a 
tower of Babel ; various are the dialects, or if 
one general language prevails, it is the language 
of interest.^ 

Falsehood has attained to such a height, 
that one lies here for the pleasure of lying. No 
people in the world have such a tendency to hy- 
perbolical amplification. They will exaggerate 
a fly into an elephant, and a mole-hill into a 
mountain. 

The French language is generally used in the 
colony : Spanish and English are, however pretty 

* In all societies, where a number of people from different 
countries have met tog-ether, every one will naturally persevere 
in those habits to which he has been accustomed in his own 
country; and though a promiscuous intercourse may induce 
many to relax a little, yet it will be long before they form a gen- 
eral character. The residents ut New Orleans are English, 
Scotch, Irish, Americans, French and Spanish ; and tliough 
the formei* constitute by far the greatest hody of the people, 
yet the two latter form a distinct division, of which the Span- 
iards are the least considerable. The characteristicks of the 
nations are nearly the same as in the mother country, though 
somewhat altered by that natm*al progress of assimilation al- 
ready hinted at. The chmate too may ha\e some influence, 
and induce them to make some little deviation from usage for the 
sake of ease and comfort Trans. 



4$ 

universal ; the first on account of the ascendancy 
of the government, whose acts, as well as those 
of the administration and judiciary order, are is- 
sued in that language ; the second owing to the 
influence of the commerce and neighbourhood of 
the American United States. And both in conse- 
quence of the great number from the two nations 
who have settled in Louisiana and perpetually 
visit itb 

With certain vicious exceptions, French is to «> 
lerably spoken here. But they have a disgusting 
drawling method of pronouncing their words. — - 
What Caesar said to a bad reader may be applied 
to the Louisianians ; " If you sing, you sing 
very ill." They also lame and disfigure certain 
words, such as bien^ tii, une, &c. which they thus 
pronounce : *' II a be?2 fait" — " t' as vu mon fils V 
x^" C'est eu?ie belle femme," &c. 

In this stricture I do not include the Acadians 
nor Germans, nor their descendants ; these all 
speak French more or less corrupt. I advert to 
the Creoles descended from the French. 

Besides this clipping of the republican French, 
there seems to be in this country a physical em- 
barrassment, a defect in the conformation of the 
organ of speech, in both sexes. They trans- 



50 



form the J into Z, and the ch into ce ; as will 
be apparent from an example. I will suppose a 
Creole addicted both to hunting and lying, desi- 
rous to express himself in these terms : 

'' ^e ne sache point avoir jamais ete chasser 
'' qiiejene sois ventre chez moi avec ma charge 
" de gihier,^''^ 

His tongue embarrassed and little flexible, and 
his elocution slow and painful, would make him 
pronounce these words in the following man- 
ner : 

" Ze ne zace point avoir zamais ete sacer^ que 
'' ze ne sois rentre ce moi avec ma carze de zibier,^^ 

And so on with the rest. Ab iino disce o Ju- 
nes. 

There is in this country no public institution 
for the education of youth but a simple school 
supported by government. It is composed of 
about fifteen children of poor parents, who are 
taught reading writing and cyphering in the 
French and Spanish languages. The nuns of 

* I never remember to have gone hunting, without returning 
li«ine loaded with game 



51 

the convent, who are Ursulines, receive young 
ladies as boarders, and instruct them in needle- 
work, reading, &c. There is also a private 
school in the city, conducted by an European of 
elegant literary attainments. But as cheapness 
is the primary object here, the noble colonists, 
not being able to dispute his merit, have found 
fault with him for not being sufficiently diligent ; 
and, under this pretence have cloaked their 
meanness in sending their children to a petty 
Creole school. Hence the only good school in the 
place has struggles to exist ; while the most con- 
temptible schools muhiply. The people of 
New-Orleans think it abominable to be charged 
more than two piasters a month for their chil- 
dren, and content themselves with any dull pe- 
dagogue who will take that sum ; while the su- 
gar-planters, cotton-planters and indigo planters 
in the country pick up some worthless vagabond 
on the road, whom they take into their houses to 
teach their families, and cram his throat with 
victuals, but his pocket with little money.^ — 
Yet these same people will complain that New- 
Orleans and the country are in want of good in- 
structors ! And so let them be. Yes ! while the 

* Wretched as this picture may seem, it is exceeded by that 
of tl\e school masters in our eastern states. There they teach 
one part of the year, and ?uow another Trans. 



52 



Louisianians refuse to exchange their perishable 
coin for lasting knowledge, may they ever have 
masters incapable of imparting to the minds of 
their children a single idea. I could fill a vo- 
lume on the turpitude of these people in neglect- 
ing the culture of the minds of their offspring. — 
But it were useless. For when men openly and 
avowedly set at defiance all the obligations of 
morality, it is to no purpose to expostulate on 
the breach of them : they are beyond the reach 
of your arguments ; and though your conclu- 
sions are unanswerable with respect to yourself, 
they lose all their force when applied to your 
adversary. 

There is neither a college, nor a library here, 
whether public or private. The cause of the last 
defect is obvious. A librarian would starve in 
the midst of his books, unless he could teach his 
readers the art of doubling his capital at the end 
of the year. There is only one printing office in 
the city ; a petty trifling institution. A meagre 
weekly newspaper now issues from its press 
once a week, alphabets and catechisms for chil- 
dren, passports, &c. 

Men of cultivated talents are very rare here.— 
There are few good musicians, and I know but 



53 

one portrait painter. Finally, in a city peopled 
with ten thousand souls, such as New-Orleans, I 
am persuaded there are not ten men of polite li- 
terary attainments, whose minds have been em- 
bellished, who are capable of appreciating the 
merit of a Descartes and Newton, a Malle- 
branche and a Locke, a Buffon and a Linnseus ; 
who can feel the homage due to the eloquence of 
a Bossuet and a Massillon, or relish the charms 
of genius, sentiment and nature, in Corneille and 
Racine, Fenelon and Voltaire. 

In their parties there is no delicacy. All is 
grossness, and noise, and uproar. Wine, not 
conversation is sought. The men will not only 
get tipsey, but stagger and reel in the presence of 
the ladies ; this intemperance at table incurs 
no disgrace j the men walk with devious steps 
before the ladies, and the ladies laugh at the ec- 
centricity of their walk» 

The standard of individual merit in this coun* 
try is, first a man's riches, and secondly his rank. 
Virtue and talents obtain no respect. 

The city abounds with tippling houses. At 
every cross street of the town and suburbs, one 
sees those places of riot and intoxication crowded 

e2 



54 



day and night. The low orders of every colour, 
white, yellow, and black, mix indiscriminately 
at these receptacles, finding a market for their 
pilferings, and solacing their cares with tobacco 
and brandy. Gambling is practised to an incre- 
dible excess. To dancing there is no end.— 
Such* a motley crew, and incongruous scene ! — 
In this corner a party staking their whole cash at 
a game of all fours ; here slaves, free people of 
colour of both sexes, and sailors in jacket and 
trowsers hopping, and capering to the sound of a 
iiddle, there a party roaring out some dirty song, 
and boy-waiters responding 'coming' to the loud, 
frequent and ardent vociferation for more grog ! 
Will any one deny the truth of what I advance ? 
I need only name in support of my assertion, 
La Maison Coquette. Is it not eternally open, 
and is this thing done clandestinely ? I have seen 
its gala nights announced on hand-bills at the cor- 
ners of the streets, with the express permission 
of the civil governor, his excellency Don Ma- 
ria Nicholas Vidal : I may yet have honoura- 
ble mention to make of him. 

Under these auspices, it is no wonder that the 
iavern-keepers of New-Orleans make such ra- 
pid fortunes. Their tap is eternally going. 
Do the police ever intrude ? Mine host finds a 



ss 



ready argument to calm his supicions ; the pri- 
vileged villain tips the officer a piece of silver or 
gold, according to his rank. 

The Ca,tholic religion is the only one allowed 
in this country ; every other is interdicted.* At- 
tendance on public worship is, however, not in- 
discriminately exacted ; a man has only to pro- 
fess an outward respect for the prominent wor- 
ship, and he need be under no inquietude.f 
Once it was contemplated to establish the tribu- 
nal of the inquisition at New-Orleans j but the 
Monk charged with the mission of the holy of- 
fice, found himself so obhoxious to the people, 
that, to avoid being stabbed, or thrown over the 
pier, he decamped back in haste to Spain. 

The judiciary branch is a chaos of never end- 
ing chicanery. It is the cave of Trophonius 

* When the Earl of Fen-ars was going to be hanged, discour- 
sing with his clergyman on religion, he expressed his opinion 
that an universal toleration was striking at the vitals of all reli- 
gion. 

f The clergy consists of a Bishop who does not reside in the 
province, and whose salary of four thousand dollars is charged 
on the revenue of certain bishopricks in Mexico and Cuba ; two 
canons having each a salary of six hundred dollars, and twenty 
curates, five for the city of New-Orleans, and twenty for as 
manj' country parishes, who receive each from three hundre^l 
and sixty to four hundred and eighty dollars a year. 



from which no man, who has once entered, ever 
comes out cheerful. Going to law in Louisi- 
ana is going to the devil.* 

People here (as in all other countries) ire- 
quently mistake their talents, and undertake 
things I?ivita Minerva, Mankind are fond of 
exerting themselves in characters for which na- 
ture has totally disqualified them, while they 
neglect what they would excel in.f I knew a 
dancing master at this place, who in grace and 
agility was scarcely inferior to Vestris ; he was 
dancing into a fortune. Yet this fellow who 
could command the heels of every well bred man 
and fine woman in the city, took it into his head 

* Suits are of various durations. In pecuniary matters the 
laws encourage summary proceedings. An execution may be 
had on a bond in four days, and in the same space on a note of 
hand after the party acknowledges it, or after his signature is 
proved. Moveable property is sold after giving nine days warn- 
ing, provided it be three times publicly cried in that interval. 
Landed property must be likewise cried three times with an in. 
lerval of nine days between each. All property taken in- execu- 
tion must be appraised and sold for at least half of the appraise- 
ment. In pecuniary matters the governors decide verbally with- 
out appeal, when the sum does not exceed one hundred dol- 
lars State Documents. 

•f Nil facies invita Minerva Hor. 

Nil decetinvita Minerva, id est repugnante N^^tura, &c«...Ci' 
cero Trans. 



57 



to be a politician, and spent so much time over 
American news-papers that he lost all his scho- 
lars to a young rival, who cared not three straws 
whether Jefferson or Adams delivered messages 
to congress. 

Vanity is a passion that is to be found where- 
ever there are human beings. But I know no 
part of the globe where it is so prominent a fea- 
ture of the moral character as in Louisiana. A 
man represents himself here twice as rich as he 
is. The most ordinary habitation is a terrestrial 
paradise. The men are always frank and gene- 
rous, the women never old, nor the girls ever 
ugly. Credat Judseus. 

The female parties compose a school for scan- 
dal. The women would be much better employ- 
ed in the affairs of their household, than in slan- 
dering the absent, and even each other after they 
have separated. 

Dissentions, between whatever sex, are gene- 
rally a war of words. Both women and men 
will exchange with one another the most oppro- 
■bious language, and then be reconciled. Some- 
times indeed a quarrel between the men termi- 
nates a la Mmdoza ; they strip and maul each 



58 

other : but that is all. One hears of no duels 
among the Creoles. 

A tutoiement prevails in the familiar conversa- 
tion of domestic life. It is never yoUy but al- 
ways thee and thou. It has, however, no parti- 
cular force. It is the babble of Lucas talking 
to Mathurin, or that of Babet wantoning with 
Perrette. It owes its origin to the base birth, 
the vulgar manners and low discourse of the 
first colonists. 

One seldom sees a Creole of either sex lame 
©r deformed. But both are subject to lose their 
teeth at an early age, and to be afflicted with cu- 
taneous disorders. This premature loss of the 
teeth is caused by the humidity of the air, and its 
frequent and sudden vicissitudes. Some iattri- 
bute it to the water they drink ; but this is pro- 
blematicah 

Louisiana, from its origin to the present era, 
has always been a colony more or less poor, and 
insulated, for a long time, from the rest of the 
globe. The country miserable in its soil was 
not less so with regard to its inhabitants. Its 
first settlers were either needy French or Ger- 
man adventurers, who scarcely improved their 



39 

fortune to mediocrity. Under the domination of 
Spain their condition was not meliorated; the war 
of Europe paralized the commerce of the district, 
and such was its languid, distressed and insulat- 
ed condition, that in France, the word Missis- 
sippi was used to designate proverbially the end 
of the world. It is true that the court of Spain 
in its wisdom lent the colony the succour of con- 
siderable sums of money ; but the colonists con- 
tinued poor, and the agents of government only 
became rich by their skill in the science of mo- 
nopoly. 

Hence the Creoles of Louisiana being all of 
base extraction, and without any other motive 
in going -to this corner of the world than to seek 
their fortunes, they were naturally illiterate, ig- 
norant and rude ; qualities inherited and pre- 
served by their descendants. In fact, the pre- 
sent race seem to have degenerated from their 
ancestors, they are rude, envious, interested, ava- 
ricious, andpresumptious. They are insensible 
yet given to raillery, caustic yet practised in dis- 
simulation, notorious romancers, and their igno- 
rance exceeds all human credibility. They 
without exception prefer a gun to a pen, and a 
pettiauger to a desk. 



60 



A Creole told me with great naivete one day, 
that a never failing method to make him fall 
asleep, was to open a book before him. Ano- 
ther had such a mortal hatred to every thing 
that issued from the printing-office, that in or- 
der to get rid of his company, it was only ne- 
cessary to shew him a printed paper, a simple 
gazette ; he would take to his heels. Another 
having by some miraculous interposition, caught 
a passion for reading, and delighting to pore 
over his book, he was considered by his com- 
panions as a madman. In a word, a library in 
Louisiana is as rare as a Phcenix. 

The most enlightened of the governors of 
the colony, was Mr. de Carondelet. This gen- 
tleman encouraged the institution of a printing* 
office at New-Orleans, in order to publish a 
weekly newspaper ; it was entitled the Loui- 
siana Monitor, and embraced the subjects of 
commerce, agriculture and the arts ; a conside- 
rable portion was also devoted to intelligence* 
The Creoles are naturally inquisitive and eager 
after news. The paper was well conducted; 
it was just to infer that it would be universally 
encouraged, that subscribers would multiply to 
the colonial sheet; yet how was it received? 
The printer himself told me, that there were 



61 

never more than twenty-four subscribers obtain- 
ed for the paper, and that in consequence it died. 
You, therefore, who delight in the belles-lettres, 
shun, I conjure you, the banks of the Mississip- 
pi ! The very air of that region is mortal to the 
muses. 

The Creoles live insulated on their planta- 
tions, visiting each other but seldom, however 
idlied by consanguinity ; when they do visit, it 
is from caprice and whim. This retired mode 
of life, neither softened by a taste for letters, 
nor the exercise of feeling awakened by the 
picturesque scenery of Nature, is not to be en- 
vied. Yet the Creoles of Louisiana are infatu- 
ated with their condition, and boast themselves 
the happiest of mortals. So the stupid Lap- 
lander, and the savage Hottentot, think their 
miserable regions transcend all places upon 
earth. 

The vanity and self-sufficiency of these Cre- 
oles are perfectly ridiculous. Some French la- 
dies of the first order of fashion having arrived 
at New-Orleans, it was observed by a French- 
man that there would be now models of fashion 
for the Louisianian ladies, " say rather," ex- 
claimed an enthusiastic Creole, " that they may 

F 



62 



" now correct their taste by imitating the dresses 
" of the women of the colony." Pursuant then, 
to this doctrine, the wild shores of the Missis- 
sippi have already eclipsed the smiling banks of 
the Seine, and the elegant female Parisian must 
borrow fashions from Louisiana ! 

Our Creoles likewise choak themselves in 
talking of the illustriousness of their families, and 
the amiable moral qualities of a crowd of rela- 
tions whom they do not visit for whole years, 
however contiguous their abodes. And when 
one of the family dies, it is customary for all 
the rest down to the seventh degree to go into 
mourning, that their grief may be apparent 
for an individual whom living they disregarded. 

They are the greatest egotists in the world ; 
their conversation is eternally about themselves. 
They are vulgarly familiar with their equals, 
insolent towards their inferiors, cruel to their 
slaves, and inhospitable to strangers. 

One trait in their character is peculiarly appa- 
rent, their singular conduct towards a stranger ; 
a stranger newdy arrived is an object of wonder, 
a being whom they have a right to appropriate in 
their own manner. They survey him from 



63 

head to foot, compliment, feast and caress him ; 
but when his novelty has subsided, he is, how- 
ever rare and transcendant his merit, a mere 
non-entity ; unless his opulence excites in them 
an interested deference. 

Their inhospitality is proverbial, but it was 
never more apparent than towards the unfortu- 
nate French refugees from St. Domingo. I 
shall shew this in its proper place : I content my- 
self at present with an anecdote. 

A negress, servant in a French family who 
rented a country seat a few miles from New- 
Orleans, presented herself, authorised by a per- 
mission in writing, to the proprietor of a neigh- 
bouring plantation, a German Creole of the 
country ; she exhibits her ticket, and requests 
permission to sell a few trifles in her basket to 
the negroes in their huts ; the Creole signifies 
his assent. She went among them and disposed 
of several articles, the ingenious work of her 
own hands ; but on her second visit, she was 
seized by the brutal Creole of the plantation, 
and taken into the house ; the poor girl exhib- 
ited in vain her second passport, the German 
Creole shut his eyes to it. He summoned his 
driver, and caused the innocent wench to be 



64 

laid along the ground, to be disrobed of her 
under garment, and saw the discipline of the 
whip severely inflicted on her naked body . 

The master of the girl being informed of 
this outrage, sent his son the next day to re- 
monstrate with the German Creole on the im- 
propriety of his conduct. " My father, Sir," 
said the youth, " thinks that in the treatment 
" suffered by his slave, you have neither behav- 
" ed towards him with the friendship of a neigh- 
*' hour, or the politeness of a gentleman." — 
'' The devil take his thoughts," cried the Creole, 
boiling with brutal indignation, " I have lived 
" thirty years in this colony, and your father 
" only two." 

These proceedings backed by such sentiments, 
are no great allurements for Europeans to em- 
bark themselves and fortunes, in order to seek 
a retirement in Louisiana; they would only 
transport themselves to a fen and be buried 
alive among snakes, scorpions and toads. 

I will not absolutely tax the Creoles of Loui- 
siana of cowardice. But during the last war 
did any of their numerous youth, like the French 
West-India Creoles, come forward to assist their 



63 

parent country ? We may, therefore, justly sus- 
pect them totally destitute of all real patriotism, 
however they may declaim, and affect to rejoice 
at the success of the revolution. 

The truth is, the Creoles of Louisiana are de- 
void of moral energy. If stimulated to activity 
it can be only by the spring of all their mo- 
tions — interest. Did we not see them some 
years ago, catch the sacred flame of liberty, 
form themselves into assemblies, and sing in. 
concert the French hymns that celebrate the 
rights of man ? And a little after this vain pa- 
rade, did they not shrink back into their shells, 
and submit to the tyranny of the Spanish gov- 
ernment ? Did they not all come back with a 
whistle, a whoop, a call. At the bark of the 
shepherd's dog, did they not all arrange them- 
selves under his crook ? 

How did the news of the general peace operate 
on their moral feelings ? After a war of nine years 
marked with blood and desolation, how were they 
affected to learn that the sword was turned into a 
plough-share, and the javelin into a pruning 
hook ? How did this intelligence, calculated to 
transport every feeling heart with joy and glad- 
ness, operate on the Creoles ? It produced in 
F 2 



66 

them a vague sensation, a fluctuation of ideas, a 
kind of stupor. Every one consulted whether it 
would promote or retard his individual interest. 
This sentiment influenced both the town and 
country. Peace was not hailed by these Creoles, 
as by the Europeans and French West-Indians ; 
she was not looked upon by them as a ministering 
angel. There were no public feasts or rejoi- 
cings. Merchants considered the change as in- 
jurious to their interests ; the rest adopted the 
opinion, and a gloom pervaded the colony. 

As a counterpart to this picture of our Creoles 
it may be urged that, " they have often wished to 
*' be restored to their ancient government, and a- 
" gain become Frenchmen." I insist that in this 
desire they were guided only by personal interest. 
The petition was made in 1790. Their privilege 
of unrestricted commerce with the French ports, 
was nearly expired. A prohibition impended 
from the court of Madrid. The desire, therefore, 
of the Louisianians to be united to France did not 
arise from any real attachment to that country, but 
from that interestedness which influences all their 
actions. Unless their personal interest be mena- 
ced, they care not under what government they 
live. Let Spain grant them a free commerce with 
the American United States, and they wiU be de- 
voted to Spain. 



67 

It may be urged in another point of view, that 
this conduct in the Louisianians, this desire to ob- 
tain the rose unhurt by the thorns, is indicative of 
address. Yes ! In pursuing their interest the 
Louisianians are without rivals or competitors ; 
ifyouwoidd dupe a Louisianian in what regards 
his pecuniary interest, you must rise very early. 

Never expect from a Louisianian Creole the 
slightest service, unless he be sure of extracting 
from it a tenfold profit. Generosity is a stranger 
to their moral character* On this subject I will 
cite a fact ; assertion is nothing without proof. A 
colonist, father of a large family, having little for- 
tune, but surrounded by opulent relations, was 
unrelentingly prosecuted by a merchant of New- 
Orleans, to whom he owed the trifling sum of eigh- 
ty piasters. Condemned to the payment of this 
sum, and pressed to effect it without possessing the 
means, he knocks at several doors, and addresses 
his relations and friends in succession, but without 
obtaining the money. A pretended friend,, how- 
ever, offered to lend the sum on condition that the 
colonist made sale at a vendue of two elegant sad- 
dle horses ; a condition the unfortunate colonist 
would not comply with. An execution was issu- 
ed. The commanding officer of the parish, charg- 
ed with the execution, set out for the man's habi- 
tation. For pursuant to the Spanish law, this act 



68 

of rigour which debases in another country, en- 
nobles here. The officer stops to dine at a public 
house, half way on the road. He mingles with 
the company at the table d'^hote^ and expresses 
without reserve his unaffected sorrow at the decree 
he was obliged to put into execution. A young 
Frenchman was present, lately arrived from Eu- 
rope. He was by no means opulent, for his trade 
was that of a pedlar ; but a man does not become 
mean by a mean situation, he was possessed both 
of sentiment and education, nor could the savage 
wilds of Louisiana deprive him of either. Hear- 
ing mention made of the tnoney, he inquired if the 
debtor was without a relation or friend who, by ad- 
vancing such a trifling sum, would extricate him 
from his embarrassment ? Every body stared at 
him with evident tokens of surprize, as though he 
had made the most extraordinary interrogation ; 
and he was answered that the debtor was a man of 
unimpeachable character who had an abundance of 
relations ; but that consanguinity was no plea for 
borrowing of money. 

The young fellow was astonished at this pro- 
found insensibility ; he was touched with lively 
emotion at the lamentable condition to which the 
honest father of a family was reduced ; he made 
no reply, but finished his dinner in haste. Put- 
ting up the eighty piasters in his pack, he departs 



69 



for the habitation of the debtor, and requests to 
speak with him in private. He beholds a man of 
an interesting physiognomy, surrounded by his 
wife and children. He calls him one side, and, 
communicating to him the execution that impends, 
entreats he will do him the favour to accept the sum 
which he is unable to pay. The colonist, astonish- 
ed at his conduct, which was only the offspring of 
education operating on a good heart, was moved 
to tears. He accepted the tendered sum, and 
made the young man this answer, which paints 
well the contrast of character between an enhght- 
ened generous mind, and the brutal instinct of an 
ignorant clown. " You, sir, are a stranger, and 
" without fortune, yet oblige me ; and my rela- 
" tions, who are opulent, abandon me to my 
" fate." 

I could multiply instances of this insensibility, 
which is the distinguishing characteristic of a Cre- 
ole of Louisiana. But I shall content myself with 
one more. This however will paint not only the 
insensibility but barbarity of the Creoles ; it will 
expose to view a heart shut to the common feelings 
of humanity. In the month of last June, during 
the elevation of the waters of the Mississippi, one 
of the colonists, a miller, was seen in the middle 
of the day, busied with his negroes disengaging 
from the stream of his mill the bodies of three 



70 

Americans, that had been drowned in the river. 
But his motive was not to rescue the bodies from 
the flood, and give the rights of sepulture to the 
remains of these unfortunate men. He was push- 
ing them with long poles into the bed of the river, 
that they might be carried away with the current, 
and no longer annoy his mill. This miller was 
a Louisianian. Readers of sensibility, I see 
you shuddering at this recital ; it makes my own 
blood run cold. 

What augments my unhappiness in this respect 
is, that this moral atrocity is not confined to the 
ruder colonists, but equally extends through all 
the ramifications of society. This insensibility to 
the social energies is epidemical in Louisiana. 

I have not yet done. I cannot refrain from ob- 
serving that Louisiana has experienced at various 
periods uncommon kindness from the inhabitants 
of St. Domingo. They always manifested for the 
Louis ianians the most lively interest, whether be- 
fore or after the possession of this country by the 
Spaniards ; offering a retreat and asylum in their 
island. When New-Orleans was burnt, they re- 
ceived into the bosoms of their families a number 
of unfortunate citizens who had lost their effects in 
the flames. And from others no bounty, no assist- 
ance, no succour was withheld. 



n 



Louisiana, it might have been expected, after 
the kindness and hospitality exercised towards her 
by St. Domingo, would have discovered some 
sensibility at the catastrophe of that island, and the 
total ruin of its inhabitants. It was looked for that 
Frenchmen would have wiped the tears from the 
eyes of Frenchmen. It was to be hoped that, from 
a reciprocity of good offices, their doors would 
have been opened to the unfortunate outcasts. But 
how did the Louisianians act ? Oh horror ! my 
colour goes when I think of it. 

Yet before I exhibit the hideous picture of the 
proceedings of the Louisianians towards the unfor- 
tunate colonists of St. Domingo,Iet me paint the no- 
ble conduct of the inhabitants of the United States, 
the lively interest they took in the misfortunes of 
the refugees. When the island was gained by the 
rebellious blacks, the tov/n at the Cape set on fire, 
and so many of the whites butchered, the conduct 
of Americans towards the flying colonists claims 
the fairest page in the annals of humanity. Every 
American opened his arms to a fellow creature in 
distress. The state of Maryland in particular dis- 
tinguished herself for hospitality. I was an eye- 
witness of the scene, and am able to detail it from 
occular knowledge. 



CHAPTER V. 

CONTRAST BETWEEN THE CONDUCT OF THE PEOPLE 

OF THE AMERICAN UNITED STATES AND THOSE 

OF LOUISIANA TOWARDS THE UNFORTUNATE 

COLONISTS OF ST. DOMINGO. 



X HE miserable colonists of St. Domingo having 
escaped through flames and swords from their 
country, and flying to the United States, were re- 
ceived with open arras by the inhabitants ; all 
seemed to contend which should be the fore- 
most in extending succour to the afflicted. 
The whole of the unhappy colonists, whether 
men, women, or children every where found a 
kind people ready to assist them. Houses, cloathes 
and sustenance were supplied them by the humane 
Americans. Baltimore immortalized herself in 
the eyes of France by the magnanimity with 
which she received mto her bosom the suffering 
colonists. The government of Maryland contri- 
buted money, lodging and provisions to every nee- 
dy refugee. 

But Maryland did not confine herself to these 
acts of bounty. One of the fundamental laws of 



73 



the state is the inhibition of the importation of 
slaves. But from respect to a law more sa- 
cred, the caritas humani generis (love of the hu- 
man species) the government of Maryland assem- 
bled at Annapolis, and sensibly affected at the fate 
of the outcasts, unanimously decreed that the 
slaves who had followed their masters to Ameri- 
ca should be continued in their service, and con- 
sidered as their property. 

In this proceeding the generous Americans not 
only made a sacrifice of their own personal in- 
terest, but of that of their country. A formal law 
had been long established, and rigorously enfor- 
ced, that no more slaves should be admitted into 
the state, a law founded on an acquaintance with 
the interests of the republic. But the axiom of 
sails po pull suprema lex esto ceded to the power- 
ful feelings of humanity, and that spirit of hospi- 
tality which characterises this great people ; forget- 
ting all personal consideration, every man suc- 
coured with alacrity a suffering fellow creature : 
Homo sum., humani nUiila me aliemnn puto. 

Besides, it was the rational opinion of Ameri- 
cans that a small number of slaves, who had 
abandoned the seducing offer of liberty to share 
the fortunes of their masters, could not be dan- 
gerous. The event justified their expectation. 



74 



And far from bringing any calamity on the coim» 
try, the influx of the flying colonists has greatly 
contr buted to the prosperity of Baltimore ; its 
trade, agriculture, manufactures have increased. 
So true is it that an enlightened policy, is not 
less advantageous than honourable to a country. 

To this rapid but faithful sketch of the frank, 
noble, and magnanimous conduct of Americans 
towards the colonists of St. Domingo, let us op- 
pose the inhuman proceedings of the inhabitants 
of Louisiana. 

Scarcely had the Louisianians heard of the 
calamities that had befallen the French in the 
West- Indies, than they hastened to have a law 
made and sanctioned by the Cabildo, expressly 
to inhibit the landing of any negro on their soil, 
under a penalty of four hundred piasters a head. 
By this law, prohibiting the landing of slaves, 
they proscribed their own countrymen. Great 
numbers of Frenchmen would have sought an 
asylum in the colony with the wreck of their 
fortunes, but could not abandon their slaves, who 
having partaken of their prosperity, were wil- 
ling now to be the sharers of their adversity. 

Some refugees, unconscious of the law that 
had been passed, landed with their slaves : their 
slaves were seized, and sent to prison. 



75 

Madame de Fleury, a beautiful widow, and 
not less distinguished by the graces of her mind, 
than those of her person, had fled to New-Orleans 
with three lovely daughters and three negro wo- 
men, who had accompanied them in their flight 
with fond attachment. Immediately on her land- 
ing, while mutually embracing and being embra- 
ced by her daughters at the thought of their safe- 
ty ; while returning thanks to the throne of god, 
amidst the sobs of the faithful slaves ; a couple 
of constables approach the spot, lay hands on 
the three negro women, and drag them to prison ! 
The same evening, in a large urA drilliantipaY' 
ty of the town people, an American lady was la- 
menting with poignant sorrow the fate of Ma- 
dame de Fleury and her three daughters, " who 
*^ in a foreign land, were unfortunate not to have 
'* at least one of her three servants to wash their 
** linen, and cook their victuals." — " Ah i" said a 
Louisianian lady in company, bridling and tos- 
sing her head, *' Elie est bien a pla'mdre^ cette 
" belle dame du Cap ! Si elle li'a pas de quoi payer^ 
*' qu^elle blanchisse son Unge et fasse sa cuisine 
*' elle-meme,^^^ 

I Ah ! she is much to be pitied, truly ; this fine Cape Fran- 
cols lady ; 1 should not have thought of it indeed : if she has 
not money to hire a servant, let her put her own hands in the 
wash-tub, and cook for herself." 



re 



Such abarbarous law, and inhospitable spirit, 
chased effectually from Louisiana the distracted, 
flying colonists of St. Domingo. The Louisia- 
nians exalted in their accumulated miseries, cal- 
ling them Les eckappes de St. Domingue I 
Those who did land on their soil, quickly em- 
barked for a less savage clime, and brushed the 
dust of that miserable country from their feet. 
In the United States, but particularly that of 
Maryland, they were received, cherished and 
protected ; they there found a home in a land of 
strangers. May this page, while it transmits 
with infamy to posterity the conduct of the Loui- 
sianians, be a lasting monument to the magna- 
nimity of the inhabitants of the United States. 
Time ! scatter if thou wilt the rest of this vo- 
lume to the winds of heaven, but let that be sa- 
cred which records the generous spijit of Ameri- 



CHAPTER Vr. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRANGERS. 



i HE French who inhabit Louisiana, are, with 
the ex<:eption of a small number of distinguish- 
ed families, people of one extraction, uneducated, 
and occupied as workmen, retail dealers, and 
farmers. And others are adventurers who have 
fled from St. Domingo, to escape the punish- 
ment due to their crimes, such as adultery and 
seduction, various robberies, and breach of trust. 
Louisiana particularly claimed their preference, 
as, by flying thither, they found their own lan- 
guage and habits under a diflerent governmentc 
Of those some have terminated their lives in 
misery, wretchedness and w^oe. Others have 
become honest or took the mask of honesty, it 
matters not which ; for, as Montaigne observes, 
mankind are easily cheated with the appearances 
of things. 

The Acadians are the descendants of French 
colonists, transported from the province of 
Nova-Scotia. The character of their fore-fa- 
thers is strongly marked in them ; they are 



78 

rude and sluggish, without ambition, living mis- 
erably on their sorry plantations, where they 
cultivate Indian corn, raise pigs and get chil- 
dren. Around their houses one sees nothing 
but hogs, and before their doors great rustic 
boys, and big strapping girls, stiff as bars of 
iron, gaping for want of thought, or something 
to do, at the stranger who is passing. 

The Germans are somewhat numerous, and 
are easy to be distinguished by their accent, fair 
r.nd fresh complexion, their inhospitality, brutal 
manners, and proneness to intoxication. They 
are, however, industrious and frugal. 

A few Italians obtain a livelihood by fishing, 
and there are some Bohemians in the colony, 
who have attained to civilization. 

In a word there is, perhaps, no place in the 
globe, where the human species may be seen in 
greater diversity than at New-Orleans, in the 
months of January, February and March ; it 
is then interest assembles this motley crew in 
the city. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OBSERVATIONS OS THE FREED PEOPLE OF COLOUR, 



X HE class of free people of colour is compos- 
ed of negroes and mulattoes, but chiefly of the 
last, who have either obtained or purchased their 
liberty from their masters, or held it in virtue of 
the freedom of their parents. Of these, some re- 
siding- in the country, cultivate rice and a little 
cotton ; a great number, men, women and chil- 
dren collected in the city, are employed in me- 
chanical arts, and menial offices. 

The mulattoes are in general vain and inso- 
lent, perfidious and debauched, much giving to 
lying, and great cowards. They have an invet- 
erate hatred against the whites, the authors of 
their existence, and primitive benefactors. It 
is the policy of the Spanish government to 
cherish this antipathy ; but nothing is to be feared 
from them. There is a proportion of six whites 
to one man of colour, which, with their natural 
pusillanimity, is a sufficient restraint. 



80 

The mulatto women have not all the faults of 
the men. But they are full of vanity, and very 
libertine ; money will always buy their caresses. 
They are not without personal charms ; good 
shapes, polished and elastic skins. They live 
in open concubinage with the whites i but to 
this they are incited more by money than any 
attachment. After all we love those best, and 
are most happy in the intercourse of those, 
with whom we can be the most familiar and un- 
constrained. These girls, therefore, only affect 
a fondness for the whites ; their hearts are with 
men of their own colour. 

They are, however, not wanting in discern- 
ment, penetration, finesse ; in this light they are 
superior to many of the white girls in the lower 
classes of society, girls so impenetrably dull, 
that like that of Balsac's village, they are too 
stupid to be deceived by a man of breeding, 
gallantry and wit. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE NEGRO SLAVES. 



W E come now to the class of negro slaves, 
the most numerous but least fortunate of all. 
The negro Creoles of the country, or born in 
some other European colony, and sent hither, 
are the most active, the most intelligent, and the 
least subject to chronic distempers ; but they are 
also the most indolent, vicious and debauched. 

Those v^^ho come from Guinea are less ex- 
pert in domestic service, and the mechanical 
arts, less intelligent, and oftener victims of vio- 
lent sickness or of grief (particularly in the early 
part of their transportation) but more robust, 
more laborious, more adapted to the labours of 
the field, less deceitful and libertine than the 
others. Such are the discriminative character- 
istics of each, and as to the rest, there is a 
strong relation between their moral and physical 
character. 

Negroes are a species of beings whom na- 
ture seems to have intended for slavery ; their 



82 



pliancy of temper, patience under injury, and 
innate passiveness, all concur to justify this po- 
sition ; unlike the savages or aborigines of 
America, who could never be brought to servile 
controul. 

This colony of Louisiana, offers a philosophic 
and instructive spectacle on this subject, from 
which I shall make a number of deductions. 
If nature had imparted the same instinct to ne- 
groes that she has to savages, it is certain that, 
instead of subjecting themselves mechanically 
to the eternal labours of the field, and the disci- 
pline of an imperious task-master, they would 
abandon those places, (to which they are not 
chained) and gaining the woods, encamp them- 
selves in the interior of the country ; in this 
imitating the savages, or aborigines, who sooner 
than live in the vicinity of the whites, retire at 
their approach. 

Is it the uncertainty of a subsistence in this 
new mode of life, that deters them from under- 
taking it ? They have never any solicitude for 
their future support. Is it the fear of being- 
pursued and overtaken that is an obstacle to 
the project ? Ignorant as they are, they cannot 
but know that, protected by almost impene- 



S3 



trable woods, nnd formidable In numbers, they 
might set at defiance a handful of whites. 
Does the apprehension of being combated by 
the Indians damp their enterprize ? Such a chi- 
mera could never affright them, since the In- 
dians roving in detached parties, would be the 
first to flee ; nay, they would probably court 
their union, there having been instances of ne- 
groes finding an asylum among them, but after 
a lapse of time, unworthy to enjoy freedom, the 
fugitives have returned to their plantation, like a 
dog, who, having escaped from his kennel, re- 
turns to it by an instinct of submission. To 
multiply comparisons, as the ox resigns himself 
to his yoke, so the negro bends to his burden. 

Their defect in instinct is apparent. Could 
the Indians be ever brought to that state of slave- 
ry which the negroes bear without repining; 
every method hitherto practised to deprive them 
of their liberty, has been ineffectual. 

But It is not so v/ith the negroes. In their own 
country, or abroad, if they have ever discovered a 
desire to emerge from slavery, this flame has re- 
sembled a meteor which appears only for a moment. 
And even, the scenes which have been witnessed 
in the French colonies, and, particularly, the isl- 



84 

and of Saint Domingo,* serve to corroborate and 
support my theory. It is undeniable that the ne- 
groes of that colony have never ceased to be slaves. 
Before their insurrection they were the slaves of 
their legitimate masters ; in the early part of the 
revolution they were slaves to the French commis- 
sioners and mulattoes ; and afterwards they be- 
came subject to the nod of negroes like themselves. 
We do not alter the substance of a thing by chang- 
ing the name. 

Nature may be modified but cannot be essen- 
tially changed. It is not possible to impart to the 
dog the habits of the wolf, nor to the ape those of 
the sheep. This position cannot be refuted. So- 
phistry may for a while delude, but the mind re- 
poses upon the stability of truth. 

From this digression let us return to the exam- 
ination of the negro slave of Louisiana. He has 
the faults of a slave. He is lazy, libertine, and 
given to lying, but not incorrigibly wicked. His 
labour is not severe, unless it be at the rolling of 
sugars, an interval of from two to three months, 
when the number of labourers is not proportionate 

* It is apparent that our author once lived at St. Domingo. I 
imajjine he was a sufferer by the revolt, insurrection and tri- 
umph of the negroes , hence his aversion to them, hence his re. 
vilings, hence his outrageous invectives Trans. 



85 



to the labour ; then he works both day and night. 
It must be allowed that forty negroes rolling a hun- 
dred and twenty thousand weight of sugar, and as 
many hogsheads of syrup, in the short space of two 
cold, foggy, rainy months (November and Decem- 
ber) under all the difficulties and embarrassments 
resulting from the season, the shortness of the days, 
and the length of the nights, cannot but labour se- 
verely ; abridged of their sleep, they scarce retire 
to rest during the whole period. It is true they 
are then fed more plentifully, but their toils are ne- 
vertheless excessive. 

^ In a country where there are not those resour- 
ces that distinguish the Antilles, nor its spontane- 
ous supplies, such as bananas, yams, sweet pota- 
toes, &c. the food of the negroes is less abundant. 

* The disastrous events proceeding from the late war should 
be impressed with redoubled force upon the minds of all slave- 
holders throughout the globe, they should teach them the neces- 
sity of keeping them in that state of content and subordination, 
v.hich will alienate them from the wish of acquiring a freedom^ 
wliich has cost so much blood to the colonists of St. Domingo. 
I subjoin for the information of the inhabitants of the United 
States the dii-ections issued by the Spanish government for the 
treatment of slaves in Louisiana. They exhibit the internal po- 
lice of the plantations. 

Every slave shall punctually receive the barrel of com allowed 
by the usage of the colony, and which quantity is voluntarily 
augmented by the greater part of their masters. 

H 



86 



The fixed ration of each negro a month is a bar- 
rel of maize net pounded ; indian corn being the 
only grain of the colony which can assure an unfail- 
ing subsistence to the slaves. The rice, beans and 
potatoes cultivated here, would not supply a quar- 
ter of them with food. Some masters, more hu- 
mane than others, add to the ration a little salt. 

The Syndics shall take measures to induce the planters of 
their district to allow their negroes a portion of their waste lands ; 
by which ih(ff will not only add to tlieir comfoi'ts, but increase 
tlie productions of the province, and that time will be usefully 
employed which would otherwise be devoted to libertinism. 

Every slave shall be allowed half an hour for breakfast, and 
two hours for dinner ; their labor shall commence at break of 
day, and shall cease at the approach of night. Sundays shall be 
the holiday of tlie slaves, but their masters may require their 
labor at harvest, &c. on paying them four escalins per diem. 

The slaves who have not a portion of waste lands shall receive 
punctually from their masters a linen shirt and ti owsers for tlie 
summer, and a woollen gi'eat coat and trowsers for the winter. 

No person shall cause to be given, at once, more than thirty 
lashes to his sla%e, under penalty of fifty piasters, but the same 
may be repeated, if necessary, within an interval of one day. 

It is permitted to shoot at an anried run-away negro, who 
shall refuse to stop when required ; or who cannot otherwise be 
taken, even if he be not amied ; at a negro who shall dare to de- 
fend himself against his master or overseer; and lastly at those 
who shall secretly enter a plantation witli intent to steal. 

Whosoever shall kill a slave, unless in one of the cases before 
mentioned, shall be punished to the extait of the law, and if he 
^hall only wound him, he shall be punished according to the cir- 
cumstance of the case. Intrigues, plcts of escape, &,c. arising 



sr 

The negi*o, during his hours of respite from la- 
bour, is busied in pounding his corn ; he has af- 
terwards to bake it with what wood he can procure 
himself. Both in summer and winter, he must 
be in the fields at the first dawn of day. He car- 
ries his sorry pittance of a breakfast with him, 
which he eats on the spot ; he is, however, scarce 

in general from the neg-roes of one plantation visiting those 
of another, the inhabitants are forbidden under t?ie penalty of 
ten piasters, to allow any intercourse or resort of negroes to 
their plantations for the purpose of dancing, 8;c. And the amuse- 
ments of their own slaves, wliich shall be allowed only on Sun- 
days, shall terminate always before night. 

A slave shall not pass the bounds of his master's land, with- 
out his permission in writing, under the penalty of 20 lashes. 

A slave who shall ride the horse of his master or of any other 
person, without permission, shall be punished with 30 lashes. 

Slaves are not permitted to be proprietors of horses, under pen- 
alty of the confiscation thereof 

Fire-arms are prohibited to slaves, as also powder, ball and 
lead, under the penalty of thirty lashes and the confiscation 
thereof. 

An inhabitant may not have more than two hunters, who are 
to deliver up their arms and ammunition on their return from 
the chase. 

Slaves may not sell any thing without the permission of their 

master, not even the productions of the waste lands allowed them. 

Rum, fire-arms and ammunition shall be seized when in pos- 

se.'^sion of coasters, and sold at public auction for the use of the 

treasury. 

New-Orleans, June 1, 1795. 

Le Baron de Carondelet. 



88 

allowed time to digest it. His labour is suspend- 
ed from noon till two, when he dines, or rather 
makes a supplement to his former meal. At two 
his labour re-commences, and he prosecutes it till 
dark, sometimes visited by his master, but always 
exposed to the menaces, blows and scourges eith- 
er of a white overseer, or a black driver. 

The good negro, during the hours of respite 
allowed him, is not idle. He is busy cultivating 
the little lot of ground granted him, while his 
wife (if he has one) is preparing food for him 
and their children. For it is observable that in 
this colony, the children of the slaves are not 
nourished by their masters, as they are at the 
Antilles ; their parents are charged with them, 
and allowed half a ration more for every child, 
commencing from the epoch when it is weaned. 

Retired at night to their huts, after having 
made a frugal meal, they forget their labors in 
the arms of their mistresses. But those who 
cannot obtain women (for there is a great dis- 
proportion between the numbers of the two sex- 
es) traverse the woods in search of adventures, 
and often encounter those of an unpleasant na- 
ture. They frequently meet a patrole of the 
%vhites, who tie them up and flog them, and then 
send them home. 



I 



89 



They are very fond of tobacco ; they both 
smoke and chew it with great relish. 

Nothing can be more simple than the burial 
of a slave ; he is put into the plainest coffin, 
knocked together by a carpenter of his own co- 
lour, and carried unattended by mourners to the 
neighbouring grave-field. The most absolute 
democracy, however, reigns there ; the planter 
and slave, confounded with one another, rot in 
conjunction. Under ground precedency is all a 
jest! ' \ ■ 

" Imperial Caesar dead, and tuj-ned to clay, 

*' May stop some hole to keep the wind away !" Pope. 

Death is not so terrible in aspect to these ne- 
groes as to the whites/ In fact death itself is 
not so formidable to any man as the pageantry 
with which it is set forth. It is not death that 
is so terrible, but the criies of mothers, wives and 
children, the visits of astonished and afflicted 
friends, pale and blubbering servants, a dark 
room set round with burning tapers, our beds 
surrounded with physicians and divines. These, 
and not death itself, affright the minds of the be- 
holders, and make tU^t appear so dreadful with 
which armies, who ftave an opportunity of being 
thoroughly acquainted and often seeing him 
H 2 



without any of these black and dismal disguises, 
converse familiarly, and meet with mirth and 
gaiety. 

The only cloathing of a. slave is a simple wool- 
len garment ; it is given to them at the beginning 
of winter. And will it be believed, that the 
master, to indemnify himself for this expense, 
retrenches half an hour from his negro's hours 
of respite, during the short days of the rigorous 
season ! 

Their ordinary food is indian corn, or rice 
and beans, boiled in water, without fat or salt. 
To them nothing comes amiss. They will de- 
vour greedily racoon, opossum, squirrels, wood- 
rats, and even the crocodile ; leaving to the 
white people the roebuck and rabbit, which they 
sell them when they kill those animals. 

They raise poultry and hogs, but seldom eat 
cither. They prefer selling them, and purchas- 
ing from their profits, cloathing and brandy. 
They love brandy to excess. Promise a negio 
a dram, and he will go through fire and water to 
serve you. 

Their smoaky huts admit both vv'ind and rain. 
An anecdote offers itself to my pen on this sub- 



91 



ject, which will exhibit the frigid indifference ot 
the colonists of Louisiana towards every thing 
that interests humanity. Being on a visit at a plan- 
tation on the Missisippi, I walked out one fine 
evening in winter, with some ladies and gentle- 
men, who had accompanied me from the town, and 
the planters at whose house we w^ere entertained. 
We approached the quarter where the huts of the 
negroes stood. " Let us visit the negroes," said 
one of the party ; and we . advanced tovfards the 
door of a miserable hut, where an old negro wo- 
man came to the threshold in order to receive u.-^ 
but so decrepid as well as old, that it was painf^? 
forher to move. 

Notwithstanding the vrinter was advanced, she 
%vas partly naked ; her only covering being some 
old thrown away rags. Her fire was a few chips, 
and she was parching a little corn for supper. 
Thus she lived abandoned and forlorn ; incapable 
from old age to work any longer, she was no lon- 
ger noticed. 

But mdependently of her long services, this ne- 
gro woman had formerly suckled and brought up 
two brothers of her master, who made one of 
our party. She perceived him, and accosting him, 
said, " My master, when will you send one of 
your carp-nteis to repair the roof of my hut ?. 
Whenever it yains, it pours down upon my head." 



92 



The master lifting his eyes, directed them to the 
roof of the hut, which was within the reach of his 
hand. " I will think of it," said he, — " You will 
think of it," said the poor creature. " You always 
*' say so, but never do it."—-" Have 5'ou not," re- 
joined the planter, " two grandsons who can 
" mend it for you ?" — " But are they mine," said 
the old woman, " do they not work for you, and 
*' are you not my son yourself ? who suck- 
" led and raised your two brothers ? who was it 
*' but Irrouba ? Take pity then on me, in my 
" old age. Mend at least the roof of my hut, and 
** God will reward you for it." . 

I was sensibly afferted ; it was le cri de la 
bonne nature. And what repairs did the poor 
creature's roof require ? What was wanting to 
shelter her from the wind and rain of heaven ? 
A few shingles ! — " I will think of it," repeated 
her master, and departed. 

The ordinary punishment inflicted on the ne- 
groes of the colony is a whipping. What in 
Europe would condemn a man to the galleys or 
the gallows incurs here only the chastisement 
of the whip. But then a king having many sub- 
jects does not miss them after their exit from 
this life, but a planter could not lose a negro 
without feeling the privation. 



93 



I do not consider slavery either as contrary to 
the order of a well regulated society, or an in- 
fringement of the social laws. Under a diffe- 
rent name it exists in every country. Soften 
then the word which so mightily offends the 
ear j call it dependence. 

The most common maladies of the negroes are 
slight fevers in the spring, more violent ones in 
the summer, dysenteries in autumn, and fluxions 
of the breast in winter. Their bill of mortality, 
however, is not very considerable. The births ex- 
ceed the deaths. 

The language of the negro slaves, as well as of 
a great number of the free mulattoes, is 2ipatois 
derived from the French, and spoken according 
to rules of corruption. There are some house- 
slaves, however, who speak French with not less 
purity than their masters : their language, it may 
be presumed, is depraved with many words not to 
be found in a Voltaire, a Thomas or a Rousseau, 



CHAPTER IX. 



A GENERAL VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF LOUISIANA, 



VV £ come now to the Indians or Aborigines of 
the country. Of the various nations living in the 
territory of the Mississippi, those which, from 
their vicinity, have the most connexions with the 
colony are the Chis, the Osages, the Arkansas, 
the Tonicas, the Toumachas, towards the upper 
part of the river, the Oumas, the Bayagulas, the 
Poutoucsis, and principally the Chactas or Tchac- 
tas, in the vast cantons of the lower part of the co- 
lony ; the Alibamons, Mobilians and Talapousses, 
in various parts of West-Florida, and towards 
the border of the Gulph of Mexico, 

The manner in which these men conduct them- 
selves, and the social compact that bhids them, 
cannot be assimilated or compared to any known 
form of government. It bears some resemblance 
to that of the ancient Germans before the Romans 
had subdued and civilized them. 

The old men and fathers of families are rather 
their Mentors than chiefs, and preside over them 



95 



rather by the voice of persuasion than that of au- 
thority. In the event of war, they willingly fol^ 
low their chiefs to the field, and submit to them 
not from a blind and passive obedience, but volun- 
tarily and by a common assent which results from 
the confidence they place in their talents, and the 
necessity of acting with unanimity in their opera- 
tions. In other respects the law of retaliation is 
the basis of their political, civil and criminal 
code ; they exercise it rigourously from nation to 
nation, family to family, and individual to indi- 
vidual. 

Their principal places of residence are a sort of 
towns formed of wigwams or huts, raised without 
either care or art. Others rove in the woods, oc- 
cupied with hunting, which is the darling passion ' 
of these people. But their rendezvous is always 
at their towns. 

The Mobilian language is the radical one from 
which all the others have sprung, and are only 
ramifications : by this too a general intercourse and 
intelligence can be held. It is not without melo- 
dy, but rendered unpleasant to the ear by the 
harsh, inarticulate and guttural pronunciation of 
the savages. I have seen many vocabularies col- 
lected from the dialects of these people, but they 
are all so vague and distorted that they promote 
no useful purpose. 



96 



Every winter, are seen a great number of 
the savages from different nations assembling 
at New-Orleans. These various hordes repair 
hither, the chief place of the colony, in or- 
der to receive their annual gifts from govern- 
ment, in token of their friendship ; consisting 
of woollen garments, blankets, fowling pieces, 
powder and shot, vermillion, &c. Each band 
has its encampment in the vicinity of the town, 
composed of huts covered with the skins of 
bears and other beasts. The squaws are to be 
seen busy in making baskets and mocassins, 
which they sell to the colonists. The men kill 
wild fowl, drink rum, or sit on the ground in a 
pensive posture doing nothing, retired in the 
shade if it is warm and courting the sun if it 
is cold.* Their dress is a piece of coarse 
cloth, or a blanket thrown over their shoulders ; 

•As this account of the Mississippi tribes of Indians is cir- 
cumscribed, and the subject peculiarly interesting to American 
readers, I am happy to have it in my power to make up our au- 
thor's deficiencies from recent, high and unquestionable authori- 
ty Trans. 

The Indian nations within the limits of Louisiana are as far 
as known as follows. On the eastern bank of the Mississippi, 
about 25 leagues above Orleans, the remains of the nation of 
Houmas are found ; they do not exceed 60 persons. There are 
no other Indians settled on this side of the river, either in Loui- 
siana or West Florida, though they are at times frequented by 
parties of Choctaws. On the west side of the Mississippi, and 
above Point Coupee, is theremnant of the Tonicas, consisting' 
of 50 or 60 persons. 



97 



but they decorate themselves with broaches, 
ear-rings, and even nose jewels. They paint 

IN THE ATACAPAS. 

On the lowCT parts of the Bayou Teche, at about eleven or 
twelve leagues from the sea, are two villages of Chitiniachas, 
consisting of about one hundred souls. 

The Atacapas, properly so called, dispersed throughout the 
district, and chiefly on the Bayou or creek of Vermilion, about 
one hundred souls. 

Wanderers of the tribes of Bllexes and Choctaws on Bayou 
Crocodile, which empties itself into the Tecbe, about fifty souls. 

IN THE OPELSUSAS, TO THE N. W. OF ATACAPAS. 

Two villages of Alibamas in the centre of the district near 
the church, consisting of a hundred persons. 

Conchates, dispersed though the country as far west as the 
river Sabinas, and its neighbourhood, about three hundred and 
fifty persons. 

ON THE RIVER ROUGE. 

At Avoyelles, nineteen leagues from the Mississippi, is a vil- 
lage of the Biloni nation, and another on the lake of the Avoy- 
elles, the whole about sixty souls. 

At the Rapide, 26 leagues from the Mississippi, is a village 
of Choctaws of one hundred souls, and another of Bilexes, a- 
bout two leagues from it, of about one hundi-ed more : about 
eight or nine leagues higher up the red river is a village of 
about 50 souls. All these are occasionally employed by the set- 
tlers in their neighbourhood as boatmen. 

About 80 leagues above Natchitoches on the red river is the 
nation of the Cadoquies, called by abbreviation, Cados : they can 
raise from three to four hundred warriors ; are the friends of the 

I 



98 



their faces with streaks of red and blue, which 
with their dress and accoutrements gives them 

whites, and are esteemed the bravest and most g-enerous of all 
the nations in this vast country : they are rapidly decreasing-, ow- 
ing to intemperance and the numbers annually destroy ed by the 
Osages and Choctaws. 

There are, besides the foregoing-, at least four to five hun- 
dred families of Choctaws, who are dispersed on the west side 
of die Mississippi, on the Onacheta and Red rivers, as far west 
as Natchitoches; and the whole nation would have emigrated 
across ^he Mississippi, had it not been for the opposition of the 
Spaniards and the Indians on tliat side, who had suft'ei'^d by their 
aggressions. 

ON THE RIVER ARKANSAS, Scc. 

Between Red River and the Arkansas there are but a few 
Indians, the remains of tribes almost extinct. On this last river 
is the nation of tlie same name, consisting of aliout two hundred 
and sixty warriors ; they are brave, yet peaceable and well dis- 
posed, and have always been attached to the .French,and espous- 
ed their cause in their wars with the Chickasaws, whom they 
have always resisted with success. They live in three villages. 
The first is eigliteen leagues from the Mississippi on the Arkan- 
sas river, and the others are tln-ee and six leagues from the first. 
A scarcity of grain on the eastern side of the Mississippi has 
lately induced a number of Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, 
&c. to frequent the neighbourhood of Arkansas, where game 
is still in abundance : they have contracted marriages with the 
Arkansas, and seem inclined to make a permanent settlement 
and incorporate themselves with that nation. 

On the river St. Francis, in the neighbourhood of New Madrid, 
Cape Girardeau, Riviere a la Pomme, and the environs, are set- 
tled a number of vagabonds, emigrants frem the Delawares, 



99 



an air of masquerade, and suits the carnaval, at 
which season they assemble. 

Shawnese, Miamis, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Piorias, and sup- 
posed to consist in all of five liundred families : they are at times 
troublesome to the boats descending- the river, and have even 
plundered some of them, and committed a few murders. They 
are attached to liquor, seldom remain long in any place, many of 
them speak English, all understand it, and there are some who 
even read and write it. 

At St. Genevieve, in the settlement among- the whites, are 
about thirty Piorias, Kaskaskias, and Ilinois, who seldom 
hunt, for fear of the other Ir.dians. They are the remains of a 
nation, which fifty yeai's ago, could bring into the field one tliou- 
sand and two hundi-ed warriors. 

ON THE MISSOURI. 

On the Missouri and its waters are many and numerous na- 
tions, tlie best known of wliich are : The Osages, situated on 
the river of the same name, on the right bank of the Missouri, at 
about 80 leagues from its confluence with it : they consist of one 
thousand warriors, who live in two settlements at no great dis- 
tance from each other. Tliey are of a gigantic stature and well 
proportioned ; are enemies of the whites and all other Indian na- 
tions, and commit depredations from the Illinois to the Arkan- 
sas. The ti-ade of this nat'on is said to be under an exclusive 
grant. They are a cruel and ferocious race, and are hated and 
feared by all the other Indians. The confluence of tlie Osage 
river with the Missouri is about eight leagues from tlie Missis- 
sippi. 

Sixty leagues higher up the Missomn, and on the same bank, 
is the ri . er Kansas, and on it the nation of the same name, 
but at about seventy or eighty leagues from its mouth. It con- 
sists of about two hundred and fifty wari-iors, who are as fierce 



100 

Both men and women are rather slender than 
robust ; nor are they either full in flesh. They 

and cruel as the Osages, and often molest and ill treat those who 
g'o to ti'ade among' them. 

Sixty leag-ues above the river Kansas, and at about two hun- 
dred from the mouth of the Missouri, still on the right bank, is 
xhe mviere Platte, or Shallow River, remarkable for its quick- 
sands and bad navigation ; and near its confluence with the Mis- 
souri dwells tlie nation of Octolactos, commonly called Otos, 
consisting of about two hundred w^arriors, among- whom are 
twenty-five or thirty of the nation of Missouri, who took re- 
fuge among them about thirtj-five years since. 

Forty leagues up the £iver Platte, you come to the nation of 
tlie Panis, composed of about seven hundred warriors in four 
neighbouring villages ; they hunt but little, and are ill provided 
with fire-arms ; they often make war on the Spaniards in the 
neighbourliood of Santa Fe, from which they are not far distant. 

At three hundred leagues from the Mississippi, and one hun- 
dred from the River Platte, on the same bank, are situated the 
villages of the Mahas. They consisted in 1799 of five hundred 
warriors, but are said to have been almost all cut off last year 
by the small pox. 

At fifty leag-ues above the Mahas, and on the left bank of the 
Missouri, dwell tlie Poncas, to the number of two hundred and 
fifty warriors, possessing in common with the Mahas their 
language, ferocity and vices. Their trade has never been of 
much value, and those engaged in it are exposed to pillage and 
ill treatment. 

At the distance of 450 leagues from the Mississippi, and on 
the right bank of the Missouri, dwell the Aricaras, to the 
number of seven hundred warriors ; and sixty leagues above 
them, the Mandane nation, consisting also of about seven hundred 



101 



have all a muscular and well shaped leg. Their 
features are strongly marked, and if not remarka- 

warriors. These two last nations are well disposed to the whites, 
but have been the victims of the Sioux, op Naudowessis, who 
being- themselves once provided with fire-arms, have taken ad- 
vantage of the defenceless situation of the others, and have on all 
occasions murdered them without mercy. 

No discoveries on the Missoui'i, beyond the Mandane nation, 
have been accurately detailed, though the traders have been in- 
formed that many large navigable rivers discharge their waters 
into it, and that there are many numerous nations settled on 
tliem . 

The Sioux, or Naudov/essis, who frequent the country be- 
tween the north bank of the Mississippi, are a great impedi- 
ment to trade and navigation. They endeavour to prevent all 
communication with the nations dwelling high up the Missouri ; 
to deprive them of arms and ammunition, and thus keep them 
subservient to themselves. In the winter they are chiefly on the 
banks of the Missouri, and massacre aU who fall into their 
hands. 

There are a number of nations at a distance from the banks of 
the Missouri, to the north and south, concerning whom but Ut- 
ile information has been received. Returning to the Mississippi, 
and ascending it from the Missoiu-i, about 75 leagues above the 
mouth of tlie latter, the River Moingona, or Riviere de Moine, 
enters the Mississippi on the west side, and on it are situated the 
Ayoas, a nation originally from the Missouri, speaking the 
language of the Otachatas : it consisted of 200 warriors before 
the small pox lately raged amongst them. 

The Saes and Renards dwell on tl\e Mississippi about 300 
leagues above St. Louis, and frequently trade with its inhabi. 
tants ; they live together, and consisted lately of 500 warriors : 
their cliief trade is witli Michilimakinac, and they have always 
been peaceable and friendly. 

The other lutions on the Mississippi hig^her up are but Uttle 
I 2 



102 



ble for animation, bespeak a pensive, thoughtful 
and reflecting soul. The colour of their skin ap- 
proaches that of a bright mulatto ; their hair is 
jet black, and their teeth good. The men have 
little beard, and what hairs appear they pluck out 
by the roots. 

These beings, almost naked, in the middle of 
a rigorous season, during a wet and cold night, 
sleep contentedly in their smoaky wigwams, 
which are open to the weather, and live from 
hand to mouth. 

Independent of their aversion to our civilized 
modes of life, their invincible passion for roving 
is an insuperable bar to their embracing it. Yet 
let us not pronounce them miserable beings. 
Chacun a son gout dans ce monde. The habita- 
tion of the Mole, dark and wretched as it may ap- 
pear, has yet charms for its tenant. 

known to us. The nations of the Missouri, though cruel, 
treacherous and insolent, may doubtless be kept in order by the 
United States, if proper regulations are adopted with respect to 
them. 

It is said that no treaties have been entered into with Spain 
by the Indian nations westward of the Mississippi, and that its 
treaties with the Creeks, Choctaws, &c. are in effect supersed- 
ed by our treaty with that power of October the 27th, 1795. 



103 



These people are free and independent. But 
this liberty and independence, far from inciting, 
deters them from labor. Their darling passion 
of hunting, while it brings them their sole sup- 
port, favours their disposition to sloth and- fond- 
ness for a vagabond life. 

Agriculture then is the aversion of the men ; 
It devolves on the squaws, who hoe the ground, 
plant and pull the corn. In fact it is the women 
only who toil. In a march of these savages, I 
have seen the squaws bending beneath their bur- 
dens, while the men walked gravely before, paint- 
ed with vermilion, and carrying on their should- 
ers only a light fusee. 

These men, however, unamiable as they may 
appear in this light, are not without their good 
qualities. A traveller, loaded with gold and sil- 
ver, would be in more safety in one of their vil- 
lages than any town of Europe. And he would 
be received with the utmost tenderness ; for hos- 
pitality is one of the prominent features of the 
moral character of these Indians. 

Their race has been thinned, and will probably 
soon become extinct. The small pox and spi- 
rituous liquors have committed unexampled de- 
vastation among their tribes. The vicinity of 



104 



the whites will accelerate the blow ; to civilize 
them is not practicable ; they visit New-Orleans 
to trade and receive presents ; they behold with 
indifference the grandest performances of art, or 
frigidly exclaim " That is pretty." 

These people have been called Savages, but I 
think undeservedly. They are not savages in 
the real import of the word ; we find among 
them political, civil and criminal codes that indi- 
cate a higher order of beings. 



CHAPTER X. 



SOIL, CLIMATE AND DISEASES OF THE COUNTRY 



? ROM the moral there is an easy transition 
) the physical world. The soil of the banks 
f the Mississippi and of all its branches, is a 
rey earth, composed of muddy and sandy pro- 
erties, and which becomes of a brown cast by 
s contact with water. One finds no species of 
Lones or flints either on the surface or interior 
f the ground : water is obtained by the slightest 
igging. In fact, the whole soil in the vicinity 
f the river, as well as of all Lower Louisiana, 
> apparently created by it. Trees are found 
nder ground, deposited there in the formation 
f the land by the water. 

The soil is fertile, when disengaged by drains of 
;s cold watery parts. And every vegetable flour- 
ihes here that demands a fresh and humid land ; 
uch as garden plants, rice, and the sugar cane. 

Cotton, fruit trees, and particularly the sweet 
otatoe, succeed here only partially ; nor does 



106 



the common potatoe flourish in abundance ; 
melancholy privation where so many slaves ar 
to be supported. 

The soil of the Atacapas and a part of th 
Opelousas, unite with the good properties of th 
river, some valuable ones of its own. It is b 
far less humid, and consequently more adapte 
to every species of plants, except that of rice 
wheat of every kind ; the vine, the olive, th 
mulberry tree ; flax, hemp, and madder flouris 
there ; as well as the sugar-cane, cotton, indig 
and tobacco. I do not mean to insinuate tha 
the culture of all these is general ; but what ha 
been cultivated has succeeded. 

I examine now the climate and the tempera 
ture of the country, beginning at Lower Loui 
siana and West-Florida, which constitute th( 
essential part of the colony. 

This country, situated from the thirtieth t( 
the thirty-first parallel, has this in common witl 
the rest of the American continent, that it ij 
less hot and more humid than that portion oj 
the globe in the same latitude, separated from it 
by the ocean. 



107 



This humidity inherent in the soil and air of 
merica, is endemical, and more considerable 
New-Orleans than any other place I am ac- 
lainted with. At certain seasons the walls of 
e houses are so impregnated with moisture, 
at water is seen dripping- down them. 

Neither has Louisiana an agreeable and useful 
versity of dry and wet weather ; but an uni- 
rmity of either the one or the other prevails. 

The spring announces itself the beginning of 
arch, by her flowers and verdure, and mild 
mperature ; moderate rains succeed, and south- 
ly winds rather strong, which are followed by 
Im, pure and delightful weather. A lovely 
ring now discovers herself, and vouchsafes 
r smiles from the first days of April till the 
iddle of June. Summer is now indicated by 
increase of heat, some storms, and consider- 
le rain. The beginning of autumn is fine, 
d the temperature of it agreeable till the mid- 
2 of November, when the season is involved, 
d becomes sometimes cold, sometimes rainy; 
d sometimes a partial white frost announces 
e approach of winter. 

In the winter season two winds maintain do- 
nion, one immediately after the other ; the 



108 



south or south-east, producing a wet, and ordi 
narily, raw weather ; and the north or north east 
which brings with it a cold, dry and pure ail 
These two winds rule with absolute sway ove 
this part of the year, and impart their opposit 
qualities ; insomuch, that during the cold seasor 
which commences towards the middle of Nc 
vember, and terminates towards the middle c 
March, a colonist shivers and courts a fire or 
day while the north wind blows, and the nei 
day throws open the doors and windows at th 
coming of the south. Yet these vicissitudes c 
temperature in the air have no sensible effect 
on the inhabitants. In general, from the end c 
November to the beginning of April, rains ar 
frequent, as also fogs, which rise in the morninj 
sometimes above the woods, and sometime 
over the Mississippi, which forms the centre c 
the same horizon, and they are dissipated as th 
day advances. 

One enjoys then, in this country, a mild ani 
agreeable air during a part of spring and autumr 
The heat of the summer is very supportable 
with the exception of some days, and the col 
of winter is certainly moderate. By a thei 
mometer of Reamur, suspended in the shade c 
a room exposed to the action of the air, th 



109 



average heat of three summers that I passed in 
Louisiana, was from 80 to 86 degrees. The 
same thermometer being exposed during the 
winter I was there, and which was one of the 
severest experienced for a long time, that of 
1800, the cold was generally above the degree 
of congelation ; and the most considerable cold 
never made the mercury fall more than two de- 
grees below ice. 

The following winter was considerably milder, 
and the one after still more so, having produced, 
till the beginning of February, only a trifling 
white frost. The thermometer descended only 
twice, and momentarily, to the degree of conge- 
lation, and sustained itself almost always from 
ten to twenty degrees above ice ; a temperature 
belonging rather to spring than winter.* 

During the first winter I have mentioned, 
when the cold was severe and long, I saw ice 
quite hard ; and what seemed a phoenomenon 
to the inhabitants, the snow fell in flakes the 
whole morning of the second of February 1800; 
a spectacle that had not been witnessed in Loui- 
siana for twenty years. But what particularly 

* They who have been accustomed to Fahrenheit's scale, will 

5illow for the difference between that and Reaumur's Trans. 

K 



110 



interested me, and awakened all my attention, 
was the appearance of the sugar-houses envel- 
oped up to the vent holes of their chimneys in 
a robe of snow, while the volcanoes of smoke 
that issued from them, formed in their dark 
clouds a striking contrast with its whiteness. 
The reflections this coup d'oeil inspired me with 
were of a nature to make me forget the rigor of 
the season. The culture of what belonged pe- 
culiarly to the torrid zone, had acquired perfec- 
tion, and was naturalized in a climate of frost 
and snow. 

A still greater phenomenon occurred in Feb- 
ruary, 1804. There had been a very heavy fall 
of snow in the upper part of this vast territory, 
which was wafted in huge masses five hun- 
dred or more leagues down the Missisippi, into 
Lower Louisiana. The river from shore to shore, 
was filled with snow. It was impracticable to 
cross it for three or four cays ; the enormous 
masses contending with each other in the waves, 
and menacing with their noise. The river car- 
ried it into the sea; vessels navigating at a con- 
siderable distance from the coast encountered 
the masses. The gulf of Mexico would have 
justified the presumption to a stranger, that it 
was bounded by the poles, and had the wind 
come from the north-east, as it does frequently 



Ill 

in that season, it is probable that a great part of 
the snow would have been carried to the island 
of Cuba, and consequently beyond the tropics. 

The weather in the month of July is the hot- 
test and most oppressive ; a silence in the heavens, 
a perfect stillness then prevails ; there is not a 
breath of wind from any point of the horizon 
to temper the heat, nor does any rain then fall. 
The coldest month is that of December, when 
the wind prevails from the north and north-east. 
It brings with it a chilling effect, and produces a 
white frost ; in the night the ice attains to the 
thickness of half an inch, and is dissipated with 
the first rays of the sun. 

This same wind chasing before it the clouds 
and mists, clears and purifies the sky, and, how- 
ever sharp and cold, dispenses health and vigour, 
and cheerfulness. The colonists call it Le Ba- 
lm^ the Besom, It gives a tone to the system, 
and dissipates the sad, heavy and melancholy 
impressions acquired from the south and the 
east gale. I have often gazed with a mixture 
of delight and admiration, at the blue cloudless 
sky at this season, enlightened with a glorious 
sun ; or contemplated with rapture the firma- 
ment discovering its innumerable vivid stars, at. 
the return of the northern wind. 



112 



But as there is no good in the world unmixed, 
this'wind, which in the latter season promotes 
health, and is so useful to arrest the progress of 
a too active and superabundant vegetation, that 
it may acquire new vigour after the winter ; this 
same wind when it obtrudes itself with violence 
in the spring, injures the health, is the parent of 
colds and fluxions of the breast, and extending 
its devastation to the earth, strips the trees of 
their opening blossoms. 

I come now to the subject of the diseases of 
the country. In taking a survey of the colony, 
we find few serious maladies prevailing ; deaths 
not frequent, but people of both sexes living to 
a good old age. The men are still fresh, active 
and vigorous at sixty. Upon the whole the 
country may be considered a healthy abode. 

This, however, for several years, has not been 
the case with New-Orleans. During the months 
of July, August, September and a part of No- 
vember, the town is afflicted with a species of 
malignant fever, which baffles the science of 
the physicians in that place. In fact this is not 
to be wondered at, for there the gentlemen of 
the faculty are a disgrace to the profession. 



113 



. This fatal disease is known at New-Orleans,, 
as well as in the American United States, by 
the name of Telloxv Fever, It is terrible and 
rapid in its progress, though little terrifying 
in its first symptoms. It begins commonly with, 
a redness which greatly inflames the face ; a pain 
in the head, and vague flying pains over the 
body. The fever is constant. 

. From the second to the third day the malady 
augments, and is characterized by an extreme 
heat; a total defect of perspiration, and a co- 
pious bleeding at the nose or vomiting of blood, 
which is commonly succeeded by another vomit- 
ing of brown matter, something resembling in 
colour pitch and tar.. This is again followed by 
a feebleness in all the animal faculties ; moments 
of delirium, and death about the ninth day. But 
what seems peculiar to this fatal disease, is the 
striking contrast in the patient at its beginning 
and termination ; at the first period his flesh is 
inflamed to a burning red colour, and at the end 
he becomes of a livid yellow, intermixed after 
dt^ath with black and purple spots, not unlike 
those proceeding from a bruise. Hence for the 
want of another name, this disease has been de- 
nominated the yellow fever. I had ahnost for- 
gotten to observe that the brown matter vomitedl 
K 2, 



114 



by the patient just before his death, is of such a 
bitter sharp and corroding quality, that if the 
least particle adheres to the lips, it burns them 
like fire. 

There are three particulars, then, to be ob>. 
served in this disease : in its beginning the in- 
flamed red colour of the patient, and in its crisis 
the vomiting of blood, as well as the general 
jaundice that takes possession of the system. 
In endeavouring to ascertain the cause of the 
disease by the examination of its principal ef- 
fects, we may, I think, attribute it to the ex- 
treme effervescence, decomposition and corrup- 
tion of the mass of blood, rather than to that of 
the bile and humours. I may be mistaken like 
many others, on the subject ; but this is my sin- 
cere belief.* 

This disease has now for seven years, made^ 
every summer, great ravages at New-Orleans ; 
but scarcely any in the country, where it is only 
known by communications from place to place. 

* Our French ti-aveller and Dr. Hosack a^ee in their patho- 
logy of yellow fever. Dr. Hosack says, " I consider this disease 
" as having nothing to do with bile or bilious fever ; I think 
'^ t:here is a deficiency of bile in yellow fever." 

David Hosack Esq. to Noah Webster, Jun. Esq. 



115 



Professional men advance that it is not epidem- 
ical. I shall not take so much latitude in my 
position as they, but confine myself to an opin* 
ion that it is not contagious, or, more strictly 
speaking, pestilential. I am disposed to think, 
that its reigning principle is in the air ; and that, 
if a man does not run an imminent risk of tak- 
ing the disease from the patient who is infected, 
he exposes himself greatly by frequenting those 
places where it commits its ravages ; inasmuch 
that it is not the contact with the infected per- 
sons, but the influence and action of the air, im- 
pregnated with the morbific qualities, upon the 
habit and disposition of the body, that commu- 
nicates the disease. 

In support of what I advance, I observe that, 
in many circumstances it has been noticed that 
people who have long lived in the town, and 
whose affairs oblige them to continue there dur- 
ing the disease, are less disposed to take it than 
those who go to it, whether from the country or 
elsewhere ; and that a temporary is infinitely 
more dangerous than a permanent residence ; as 
if the body assimilated itself with the existing 
air, and that a sudden impression was more 
dangerous than its continued influence. 



116 



It deserves notice, that among the inhabitants 
of the city, the Americans are principally the 
victims of the disease ; that the French are 
much. less subject to it, and the Spaniards 
scarcely at all. In investigating this subject, it 
is to be remarked that the Spaniard, accustomed 
to the influence of a warm climate, and having 
in his blood all the relative qualities of its tem- 
perature, is less subject to suffer its inconve- 
niences than the American, coming from a cold 
climate, and having his veins more copiously 
filled with blood, and consequently more sus- 
ceptible of inflammation and corruption by the 
action of the heat. The Spaniard too lives tem- 
perately, on simple aliments, and avoids spirit- 
uous liquors ; whereas the American revels on 
succulent meats, and spices, and has often the 
bottle or glass to his mouth. These causes 
will serve, I think, to explain why this disease, 
so fatal to Americans, creates no solicitude in 
the breast of a Spaniard, and suspends few or 
none of the diversions of a Frenchman. 

But to what shall we attribute the prevalence of 
such a disease in the city, when the neighhouring 
country is exempt from it? 1 will make my owa 
observations on this subject, as well as furnish 
those of some enlightened men upon the spot. 



iir 

I shall in the first place, enumerate some of the 
causes, which without doubt, concur to corrupt 
the air breathed at New-Orleans ; and which, dur- 
ing the heat of summer, make it susceptible of 
impregnation with every impure, noxious and 
baneful efRuvia. 

1. The filth and dirt spread over the town, on 
the wharves, in the streets, the unoccupied cor- 
ners, in the very courts before the houses, where 
every kind of dirt is thrown and suffered to re- 
main. 

2. The defect of the draining off of corrupted wa- 
ters, which mixing with the dirt, filth and ordure^ 
augments the evil. 

3. The high brick houses, which have been 
built within a few years, and, which collecting and 
communicating much humidity, intercept the cur- 
rent of the air, which unobstructed, would atten- 
uate the malignant particles of the atmosphere. 

4. The open ditches, dug round the city, with- 
in a few years, under the pretence of fortifying it, 
and the rubbish .of rotten wood in the suburbs, 
from which, during the summer heat fcctid va° 
pours are exhaled. 



118 

Yet I think it very rational to suppose, that the 
yellow fever is not peculiar to New-Orleans ; but, 
that after being brought thither, it is propagated 
by the causes I have enumerated. A stranger 
to the climate and soil, it may, by proper remedies 
and pains be totally extirpated. 

It is the general opinion that the yellow fe- 
ver at New-Orleans was imported from the Uni- 
ted States of America. It was not known in that 
town more than seven years ago, at which period 
the American commerce with New- Orleans had 
attained to a considerable extension. 

It is thought to have its origin from the fever 
that committed its ravages at Philadelphia in 1 793 ; 
and that it was brought to New-Orleans by the 
Americans themselves, who are always its princi- 
pal victims. 

However this may be, it is notorious that this 
mortal fever has for ten years spread desolation in 
the principal towns of the Unired States, but par- 
ticularly those of New- York and Philadelphia, 
where it apparently had its birth, and accu'red its 
name. Since the year 1793 few summers have 
passed without the appearance ofthis unwelcome 
gut.slat Philadelphia and New- York ; m both those 
places it commits great havock in the months of 



119 

July, August, September and a part of October. 
At the first alarm in either of those towns all is 
dismay and confusion. The banks are the first 
to fly, and whithersoever they go, the citizens go 
too ; for money would engross the thoughts of 
traders, were even the day of judgment come upon 
earth. Not the earth opening its jaws ; not thunder 
cleaving the bank, would dislodge from it the mer- 
chants, while there was a stone or brick of the struc- 
ture left to cling to. In the meantime the editors of 
papers are careful of themselves ; from the con- 
sciousness, I presume, that their loss would be 
irreparable. They cull all the flowers of speech 
to acquaint their subscribers with the spot they 
have moved to in the season of danger, insinua- 
ting thereby that the fever has not suspended their 
politics, their scandal, their lies and defamation. 

Enough of yellow fever. I return from this di- 
gression with observing that the climate of Lower 
Louisiana is by far more healthy than it is com- 
monly supposed* Men are apt to draw general 
conclusions from particular circumstances ; and, 
because New-Orleans, at certain periods, is said 
to be unhealthy, the whole of the colony is invol- 
ved in the same representation. 

From the end of October to the beginning of 
July, diseases are not common, and mortalities 



120 

are rare, in the city as well as the country. And 
I am of opinion, that when disorders do occur, 
they are owing to the variations of the atmos- 
phere ; the quick transitions from hot to cold, and 
vice versa. 

Epidemical diseases are not known there. The 
small-pox, so often fatal in other countries, is sel- 
dom attended with dangerous consequences in 
Louisiana. 

With respect to the temperature of Upper, 
it is more salubrious than that of Lower Loui- 
siana, on account of its situation. The air is 
in general more pure ; and the natives have conse- 
quently their fibres less relaxed, and more colour 
in their cheeks. 



CHAPTER Xi. 



BEASTS, BIRDS AND REPTILES. 



A.LMOST all the domestic animals, whether 
quadruped or winged, are found here in great 
numbers, except the ass, goat and guinea-hen, 
which are seldom seen. 

The ox is employed in the labours of agricul- 
ture, but its flesh is not good in March, April 
and May, being then very meagre. 

The mutton is not delicate eating, whether in 
the town or country. 

The poultry is bad in summer, but savoury in 
winter. 

The Louisianian horses are neither handsome 
nor good. Raised in humid pastures that have 
little body, they are without much vigour ; they 
are besides weak at the fetlocks, and do i.ot cap- 
tivate by a handsome forehand. In a word, the 
country does not produce elegant riding horses, 
that go well in all their paces, but ponies that 
shuitie and pace. 



122 



The wild quadrupeds are the American tiger,^ 
the bear, big fox, the cat, weed rat, roebuck, 
squirrel, rabbit, &c. 

The birds are the partridge, cardinal and pop^, 
and a species of mocking bird, called the nightin- 
gale. But it bears no resemblance in the melody 
and undulation of its tones to the songstress of 
the ancient and modern bards of Europe ; it was 
not one of these that the great English poet 
Milton sought in the stillness of solitude and 
night : 

Sweet bird that shun'st the noise of follyj 
Most musical, most melancholy ; 
Thee ! chauntress oft the woods am.ong, 
I woo to hear thy evening song. 

On the other hand, however, the country 
abounds with rooks and crows, and other birds 
of evil note, that fill the ear with their detestable 
concerts. 

* The tiger is not known to the American continent. When 
the tiger is mentioned by travellers in Ame; ica, the panther is ah 
ways meant. — It is a singularity in the history of nature, that 
while the fores'ts of Em ope, Asia and Africa, resound with the 
sJirieks of the victims to tlie lion, the tiger, the leopard and hye- 
na, the sojourner in America, with no other weapon than a staff 
of reed maj traverse its wilderness in perfect safety, from the un- 
limited ocean of tlie west to the shores of the Atlantic. Trans. 



123 

There is a bird very common here, which is 
found in silent flocks near the houses, the size of 
a small turkey, of an ordinary plumage, ignoble 
aspect, and heavy flight, living on insects and 
reptiles, that is called carancro j it is, I am of 
opinion, the gallinazo of Mexico. 

Certain birds of passage are numerous here, 
such as duck and teal ; they are seen in great 
flocks during winter, and afford both good shoot- 
ing and nourishment to the colonists.* 

The fresh water fish are not very good, though 
they are abundant enough ; those of the sea are 
better. On the borders of the sea and lakes are 
found tolerably good oysters. 

Nature seems to have designed this country as 
a receptacle for insects and reptiles. The croco- 
dile is every where to be found, it being amphibi- 
ous, whether in the water or on land ; it even 
comes to the doors of the houses. But, how- 
ever hideous its aspect, it is not to be feared when 
out of the water. 

* In South Carolina, about November, I have seen such flocks 
®f wild clucks alight on the ponds formed by tiie rain, that one 
mig-ht shoot a hundred of an evening... .Trans. 



t24 

The rattle snake (serpent a sonnettesj is com- 
mon here ; but a more dreadful animal is the 
congar viper. They are both found in the 
swamps, woods, and sometimes the houses* 

The country abounds with frogs and toads ; the 
toads after the first rains of summer sometimes 
cover the earth. 

But the greatest tormenter in Louisiana is the 
musqueto. You can avoid the crocodile, the 
rattle-snake and toad, by staying at home, or leav- 
ing these reptiles masters of the field of battle. 
But the musqueto is not to be eluded. From 
spring to autumn this diabolical insect provokes, 
teases, and preys on you ; day and night he is 
your unremitting persecutor, no place is sacred ; 
he intrudes himself into every apartment, and 
thirsts after your blood. A veil of gauze or mus- 
lin suspended from the cieling over your bed, is 
the only defence against this enemy of repose in 
the night. He then buzzes outside, and you 
sleep to the harsh music. The musqueto alone 
would deter me from settling in Louisiana. 

Then why, it will be said, did you remain two 
years and a half in the country. Imperious cir- 
cumstances imposed on me the residence ;. my 
abode there was not voluntary. 



CHAPTER XII. 



TREES OF THE COLONY. 



X HE trees that form the curtains of forests with 
which the two banks of the Mississippi are bound- 
ed, are, with the exception of the cypress and 
green oak, not remarkable for their elevation. Nor 
is their aspect agreeable or flattering to the sight, 
but, on the contrary, melancholy and sad. For 
from the branches of the trees a species of moss, 
or rather misletoe, hangs in tresses of a colour incli- 
ning to grey, that marks their verdure, and forms 
a disagreeable coup d\etL^ 

The wood of the c}^ress is used in building 
houses, pettiaugers and canoes ; it is, in fact, the 
only wood that could be applied with facility to 
these purposes below Upper Louisiana. It is very 
combustible and venomous. The least splinter of 
it in the flesh irritates and inflames, and is some- 
times attended with fatal consequences. 

* On the contraiy, in my opinion, this moss, hanging In ti'es- 
^es through the extensive forests of the Dew worid, renders tiidJ^ 
aspect more venerable.. ..Trajis. 

L2 



126 



There is another tree in this country admirably 
adapted to joiner's work, and, when well wrought, 
produces tables equal to any mahogany. It is 
called merisier. It is scarce in Lower, but plen- 
tiful in Upper Louisiana. 

In what relates to the different kinds of wood 
with which the colony abounds, I observe that in 
general the cedar and pine are found on the borders 
of the gulf, the cypress in its neighbourhood, and 
on the banksof the Mississippi, and in the marshy 
ground, the oak, merisier, walnut, &c. 

Generally speaking, fruit trees do not succeed 
in Louisiana, whether owing to the viciousness of 
the soil, or want of care. However, the orange, 
fig, peach, pear, apple, and the vine grow there. 
But they neither conciliate the eye nor the taste. 

Among the natives of the country, the paca- 
mier, a species of nut tree, offers an agreeable 
verdure, and the jessamine is not less captivating, 
though inferior in height. The sassafras is com- 
mon here. 

Vegetables are quick in prowth, but have less 
flavour than thos^; of Europ . The melons, but 
especially the water-melons, are excellent. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

g-ETTLEMENTS ON THE MISSISSIPPI ; STAPLE COMMOD- 
ITIES OF THE COLONY SUGAR, COTTON, &C, 

FUR-SKINS. THE GALLANTRY OF THE AMERI- 
CAN BOWLES AT THE HEAD OF A FE\y 
INDIANS ; HE ATTACKS AND CAR- 
RIES A SPANISH FORT. 



X COME now to the establishments in the colo- 
ny, and shall begin with chose on the banks of 
the Mississippi. 

This space of seventy-five leagues, which ex- 
tends along the two banks of the river, compre- 
hends in the whole tract from twelve to fifteen 
hundred habitations, where the sagar-cane, cot- 
ton, indigo, tobacco, and carpenter's wood, offer, 
in divers places, more or less resources by their 
products, and sustain a great number of propri- 
etors where the soil admits of cultivation. 

On leaving New-Orleans, and ascending the 
Mississippi, in the extent of five leagues, I 
couited seventy habitations large and small, 
OX wnicii forty were on the right banit of the 



128 

river, and thirty upon the left. Bat this enumera- 
tion being made in the vicinity of the city, the result 
would not be so numerous. This was from the 
suburbs of the town to Trudeau's habitation on 
the left bank of the river, and from Bernandy's house 
on the right bank, to Eugene Fortier's abode. 

The chief part of these plantations consist of 
seventy-five sugar-houses, established here and 
there on the river's banks ; the other establish- 
ments are cotton manufactories, some indigo 
plantations, and others of tobacco towards the 
Natchitoches ; together with mills for sawing 
wood, and settlements of inferior note, where 
maize, and rice and potatoes and greens is cultiva- 
ted. 

The only important manufactures deserving of 
attention in the colony are those of sugar in the 
lower, and cotton in the upper part. 

It is seven or eight years s'nce the first sugar 
establishments were made in the colony, and it 
owes its principal advantage to the calamities of 
St. Domingx), which raised the demand for sugar 
from Louisiana, and sent many of the planters 
and workmen of that unhappy island to seek a set- 
tlement on the Mississippi. 



129 



However it may be, the sugar cane which the 
Louisianians unsuccessfully attempted to cultivate 
fifty years ago and totally abandoned, (the winter 
then seemed an insurmountable obstacle to its 
growth and the extraction of its sugar) assimilates 
now to the climate, and grows with surprising fa- 
cility. The sugar cane planted in January, Feb- 
ruary, and even March, shoots out from the 
.earth the beginning of spring, languishes in May 
and June, begins to assume vigour in July, and 
in the space of only three months, favoured by 
the rains and active heat, rises and expands, dis- 
covers in October a stalk from eight to nine feet 
high, and, at the end of the same month is fit to 
be cut and wrought, with such a real advantage, 
that an acre of ground, well prepared and planted 
skilfully with canes at the beginning of February, 
is in a state nine months after to yield a neat pro- 
duct of two thousand weight of sugar, and two 
thousand hogsheads of syrup. 

An inhabitant who is a good planter, and whose 
land and establishments are in good condition, may, 
possessed of a hundred French acres and forty ne- 
groes, iprodiice^ CO mmunibus a?mis^ a hundred and 
twenty thousand weight of rough sugar, and the 
same quantity of hogsheads of syrup. 

The canton of Atacapas supplies a soil peculiar- 



130 



ly favourable to the cultivation of' this plant. It 
is pretended that the sugar of no part of Louisiana 
is of a good consistence, but that it soon runs into 
molasses, either when put in motion by heat or 
the effect of transportation. If this charge from 
Americans be well founded, it will be a great mis^- 
fortune to Louisiana, as this article is likely to be- 
come its staple and principal resource. It is true 
that the haste of the colonists to sell their sugar, 
before it is well purged of its syrup, may have gi- 
ven rise to the presumption of the feeble consist- 
ence of this grand production of their soil ; and it 
is to be hoped they will sacrifice the interest of the 
moment to views more comprehensive, reputable, 
and remotely profitable. 

For my own part, I am persuaded that the sugar 
cane, an exotic in Louisiana, cannot fail of suc- 
ceeding there with proper care : I have never seen 
fewer canes in any part of the West- Indies. The 
soil is admirably adapted to its cultivation ; it on- 
ly requires a slight ploughing, and to be drained of 
its humidity. Neither is the plant subject to de*- 
atruction from any kind of insect. 

The sugai' planter too of Louisiana enjoys 
three essential advantages for facilitating his estab-' 
lishment ; namely, brick, which he prepares from 
the earth on the banks of liis river, and wood, 
either for building, cooperage or fuel. 



131 



These are obviously advantages, but as there is 
never good without some mixture of evil, the 
Louisianian planter has, on the other hand, several 
obstacles to combat. A hurricane in September 
or October may tear up his canes by the roots, 
and scatter them in every direction ; or heavy 
rains may so injure them that they shall af- 
ford only syrup. 

I have already observed that the lower part of 
Lower Louisiana, in the neighbourhood of New- 
Orleans offers but an unfavourable soil for the cul- 
ture of the sugar cane. It is consequently there 
of DO importance. But in the upper cantons of 
Baton Rouge and Point Coupee, where the land 
is higher and less humid, it grows in all its vi- 
gour, as well as in the cantons of Atacapas and 
Opelousas. Indigo, within twenty years, has 
been generally abandoned in Louisiana. 

In the cantons I have just named, cotton pros- 
pers, and is a lucrative plant. But it is to be ob- 
served that this culture is more precarious thah 
that of the sugar cane ; cotton is exposed to the 
preying of the catterpillar, and the ravages of the 
rains. 

Sugar and cotton are the staple commodities qf 
the colony. Scarcely any indigo is raised. To- 



132 



bacco succeeds in the upper parts, particularly 
that of Natchitoches, but the frauds introduced in 
the curing of that commodity have ruined its com- 
merce. 

The produce of fur skins has much diminished^ 
principally owing to the havoc made among the 
fallow beasts by the English and Americans. An 
American named Bowles, at the head of a hand- 
ful of Talapsusses Indians, attacked and carried, 
about two years ago, the fort of Apalachas, for- 
tified with cannon, supplied with ammunition 
^nd provisions, and garrisoned by a captain and 
company of Spanish troops, who like base cowards 
abandoned their post without making resistance ; 
but getting into their gallies moored at the foot of 
the fort, escaped to Pensacola. Had this captain 
inherited but a small portion of the spirit of a 
Smith, he would have heard unmoved the war- 
whoop, and smiled at the arrows of a host of In- 
dians. But let me not profane the tomb of the 
dead by associating the memory of the great father 
of Virginia with such a miserable poltroon.^ 

And what was the object of Bowles in getting 
possession of this fbrt ? solely that of carrying on 

• For the history of the courage, fortitude, and moderation of 
Captain Smith, vide the Firt Settlers of Virginia, an historical 
«iovel, j ustpu bi ishe d- 



\S3 

with less restraint and more extent the trade in fur 
skins with the Indians of the surrounding country. 
It is true that about three months after the fort 
was retaken, without striking a blow, by the Spa- 
niards ; but the troops they collected, and their 
pomp of artillery &c. showed how formidable 
they considered an American at the head even of a 
few timid, raw .and undisciplined Indians. 
Bowles, in his turn, deserted the fort at their ap- 
proach, and decamped without beat of drum, or 
sound of trumpet. 

Rice, although it has been sold here, within two 
years, at eight piasters a barrel, is not a branch of 
ai\y considerable importance. 



M 



CHAPTER XIV. 



POPULATION or THE COLONY, 

AN speaking of the population of this country, 1 
shall begin with its principal part, comprehending 
Lower Louisiana, and West Plorida ; from the 
thirty-first degree of north latitude, to the borders 
oif the Gulph of Mexico, and from the sixty -eighth 
to the sixty-ninth degree of longitude west of the 
meridian of Ferrol. 

I am of opinion that the number of inhabitants 
contained within this space, (without comprehend- 
ing scattered remnants of Indians) does not ex- 
ceed sixty thousand ; of whom from twenty ■= 
six to twenty-seven thousand are whites, from 
five to six thousand free people of colour, and 
twenty-eight thousand slaves. 

This population of sixty thousand souls is thus 
distributed j thirty-two thousand upon the banks 
of the river, of w hich ten thousand are at its chief 
settlement, and twenty-tw^o thousand in the coun- 
try, six thousand in the canton ol FoLirche, twelve 
thousand in the cantons of Atacapas and Opelous- 
sas, six thousand at the establishments of Baxou, 
Sara, Avoyelles, Natchitoche, and Ouachita, and 



135 

four thousand in the neighbourhood of the Lakes 
Pontchartrain and Barataria, and upon the bor- 
ders of the Gulf of Mexico. 

With regard to the population of Upper Louisi- 
ana, comprized within the three posts of Arkan- 
sas, New Madrid and the Illinois, I conceive it 
does not exceed ten thousand individuals. 

Such was our traveller's estimate of the popula- 
tion of Louisiana in 1802 It is at all times diffi- 
cult to obtain the census of a country, and the im- 
pediments are increased in this by its scattered po- 
pulation. I annex an enumeration of its inhabit- 
ants from high authority : according to the follow- 
ing census. No. 1 of Louisiana, including Pensaco- 
la and the Natchez, as made in 1785, the whok 
mimber of inhabitants amounted to 32,062, of which 
14,215 were free whites, 1,303 free people of co- 
lour, and 16,544 slaves. 

The statement No. 2, from the latest docu- 
ments, makes the whole number 42,375, the free 
whites 21,244, the free people of colour 1,768, 
and the slaves 12,920. 

A. particular statement respecting the population, 
&c. of Upper Louisiana in the year 1802, is num- 
bered 3. 



136 

No. I. 
CENSUS OF LOUISIANA* 



IN THE YEAR 1785. 







Free 






Distv cts. 


whites. 


people 
colour. 


Slaves 


Total. 


Balize to the city 


S87 


67 


1,664 


2,118 


New-Orleans 


2,826 


563 


1,631 


5,028 


St. Bernardo 


584 


2 




586 


Bayou St. John 


91 


14 


573 


678 


Costa de Chapitoulas 


1,128 


263 


5,645 


7,036 


First German coast 


561 


69 


1,273 


1,903 


Second do. 


714 


5 


581 


1,300 


Catahanose 


912 


18 


402 


1,332 


Fourche 


333 




273 


6O6 


Valenzuela 


306 




46 


352 


Iberville 


451 




222 


673 


Galveztown 


237 




5 


242 


Baton Rouge and> 
Manchac 3 


68 


2 


100 


170 


Point Coupee 


482 


4 


1,035 


1,521 


Atacapas Sc Ope-"> 
loussas 3 


1,204 


22 


1,182 


2,408 


Ouachita 


198 




9 


207 


Avoyelles 


149 


138 




287 


Rapide 


63 




25 


88 


Nachitoches 


404 


8 


344 


756 


Arkansas 


148 


31 


17 


196 


Illinois 


1,139 


18 


434 


1,591 


Natchez 


1,121 




438 


1,559 


Mobille ScTombigbee 


325 


31 


461 


837 


Pensacola 


384 


28 


184 


596 


14,219 


1 1,303 


16,544 


32,062 



* The census of New-Orleans has been subjoined to the (de- 
scription of that place. 



137 



No. II. 

CENSUS 

Of the Districts or Ports of Louisiana and West -Florida, 
from the latest documents. 



Names 8c situations 




Free 




1 


of the 


whites. 


people 


Slaves. 


Total. 


Posts of Districts. 




colour. 






Balize to New-Or- 










leans. 








2,388 


San Bernardo, or 










Terre aux boeiifs, 










on a creek running 










from the English 










turn east to the sea 










and lake Borgna 








661 


City of New-Orleans 










and suburbs, as per 










detail subjoined to 










the description of 










it 


3,948 


1,335 


2,773 


8,056 


Bayou St. Jean and 










Chantilly, between 










the city an^l lake 










Pontchartrain 








489 


Coast of Chapitoulas, 










or along the banks 










of the Mississippi, 










6 leagues upwards 








1,444 


First German coast, 










from six to ten 










leagues upwards, 










on both banks 


688 


113 


1,620 


2,421 


Second do. from 10 






1 


leagues and end- 








ing at 16 do. 


883 


21 


1,046 


1,950 



M 2 



138 



I^ames & situation 

of the 
Posts of Districts. 



whiteb. 



Free 
peoD'.e 
colour. 



Slaves. 



1o- 
tal. 



Catahanose,or 1st A- 
cadian coast, com- 
mencing at six- 
teen leagues above 
the city and end- 
ing at 23 on both 
banks 

Fourche, or 2d A- 
cadian coast, from 
23 to 30 leagues 
above town 

Valenzuela,or settle- 
ments on the Ba- 
ton de la Fourche, 
running from the 
•west side of the 
Mississippi to the 
sea, and called 
in old maps the 
Fourche or riviere 
des Chillimachas 

Iberville parish,com- 
mencing at about 
SO leagues from 
Orleans, and end- 
ing at the river of 
the same name 

Galveztown, situated 
on the rirer Iber- 
ville, between the 
Missisippi Sc lake 
Maurepas, oppo- 
site the mouth of 
the Arnet 



1382 



677 



818 



464 



220Q 



141 



1797 



658 



213 



13 



267 



2064 



386 



1057 



8 26 



247' 



Naraes Sc situatioii 




Free 




of the 


whites. 


people Slaves. 


To- 


Posts of Districts. 




colonr. 


tal. 



Government of Ba- 
ton Rouge, includ- 
ing all the settle- 
ments between the 
Iberville and the 
line of demarca- 
tion 

Point Coupe 8c False 
river behind it, 50 
leagues from New 
Orleans, on the 
west side of the 
Mississippi 

Atacapas, on the 
rivers Teche and 
Vermilion, &c. to 
the west of the 
Mississippi, and 
near the sea 

Opelousas adjoining 
to, and to the north 
east of the forego- 
ing ^ 

Ouachita, on the ri- 
ver of the same 
name, or upper 
part of the black 
river which emp- 
ties into the river 
Rouge 

Avoyelles, on the 
Red river 

Rapid on do. 

Natc'iiitoches, on do. 
about To leagues 



958 



547 



16 



59 



1646 



58 



539 



1663 



530 



808 



ri n /• 
OOO 

584 



94 
169 



151S 



2150 



1447 



2454 



361 

758 



liO 



Names & situation 




Free 




- 


ofthe 


Whites. 


people 


Slaves 


. To- 


Posts of Districts. 




colour 




tal. 


t) om the Missis- 
















sippi 


785 




846 


1631 


Concord, an infant 










settlement on the 










banks of the INIis- 


§1^ 








sissippi, opposite 


^1 








Natchez 










Arkansas, on the ri- 








ver of the same 










name, about 12 










leagues from its 










mouth 


Z^5 


5 


48 


388 


Spanish Illinois, or 










Upper Louisiana, 










from la Petite 










Prairie, near N. 










Madrid, to the 










Missouri inclu- 










sive, as per de- 










tail. No. 1. 


4948 


197 


8 83 


028 


Mobille and country 










between it and N. 










Orleans, and bor- 










ders of lake Pont- 




1 






chartrain 








880 


Pensacola, exclusive 










of the garrison 








300 


1 


21,244 1 


2,768 


12,920 


1 42,375 



o 


^ 'i 




rt u 

^ 


^ 


•ir o 


f- a 


OJ '"' 


M 


1-0 


^ 


S^-n^ 


8- 






T^ 



I o o o 
-r) 'o Tj< 

r-( O) *o 



(Li iij . 






o o 

o o 



^ to 



2-^ § 









'^ c -^ J iS c; -^ 



^ ^ TSj 2d 



5-T^ «« 






<.£ 



'.-J 



■= S J£ g •- o ^ 
3 ci.j^ f_2T3 S5 o 



? ii O 



to 



C r: **-" 



oo. 



*o >o --^ ^- CO 

;^ ^ t:? i^i lO 



■73 CO 
O CO 



o :2 

o '^ 



Horned o oo rN> o cr c-- -* co 'o 
Cattle. 'Hr-<c^c^^r^'n(»io 



Pounds of 
Lead 



Bushels 
of Sa . 



K, CO 

O 00 



o o 
o o 
o o 



Pounds of [^ 
Fobacco. ^ 



Bush, of 
nd.Corn, 



Bushels 
of Wheat. 



Deaths. 



Births. 




Slaves - 



Free Ne- 
g'roes. 



Free Mu- 
lattoes. 



Whites. 



OCOC500>00^0 
;-5 >T in O V5 "O Oi o 

'n o ts. oo .-^ -* O) CO 

r}< tJ< UD ro >0 r-l 



o >^ *r) o N. 'o in o 

>N> tH CO ■'~ CO en -^ CO 



o o in o 


rri 


o o o o 


o 


*n 


o o ^ o 




O CO O 'T) 




o 


cocovDcooc^l^Tj<tr)*n 


N. 


^ CO ^o »o 


1-^ 


to T-l 




tS 






'— ' 







cn )n lo 



•n "^ >n 'O (71 in CO o^ o 
^cocf5h,t^i-H:T>Ti<-o 

C3% *-< <X> G^ CO rH CO Ol in 



CN CO 
V5 b- 



CO CO 'n N. c^> 
"-0 in i-( '^ 



1-1 ^ N. 



-HT-ioc7ib-»n-H'otn 
o 03 ■* 'n CO -H <o CO ^ 

kO— ICOC^JCO'HCOUD^ 



^ b. 



S -p 



ii ^ Jii cj CJ > 5 
^^ b ? - ^^ Sd o 









c/5 M ;, aj 



! ^ 



05 '^ 



£ s flj 

rt > fH ^ O 



'di 2i *^ 



•* s iu J; _ . J 3 -"^ 



*- c 

C !i 



2i ^ h;^ j= •- 
2 a; ^^ 






£5|-| I -i| 
^ ^ '■ ^ 2 ° I -2- J' 

•§ 2 s s =« « ^ * ^ 



~ 2 

c 



^ T3 - 



■O "^ v> 



CO .^ rt ^ 5 
I ^ -S -^ 



*- rt 



J OJ to a 



•S S g § go^ ^-^ i: 



CHAPTER XV. 



COMMERCE OF THE COUNTRY- 



XvELATIVE to what concerns the commerce 
of the colony, I shall observe, in the first place, 
that, from the beginning of the maritime war, 
which has lately terminated, that is, about nine 
years, this commerce has been entirely in the 
hands of the Americans, who have shared the 
profits with, the English, to whom they are fac- 
tors or agents.* 

* The following may he received as a sketch of the 
exports of Louisiana. ...Trans. 

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 

20,000 bales of cotton, of 3 > , ^ , , ^^^ . 

cwt. each, at 20 cts. per pound. S l'-44,000 mcreasing. 

45,000 casks of sugar, 10 i ^^^ 
cwt. each at 6 cents per lb. 5 

800 do. molasses, 100 gal- 5 3 ^^0 ditto 

Ions each. 3 

Indigo, f'°°'-°r'S"' 

Peltry, 200,000 

Lumber, 80,000 

Lead, corn, horses and cattle, uncertain. 
All other articles, suppose 100,000 

2,1 J 8,000 



143 



It is to be presumed that the peace will change 
the order of things, and replace it by another j 

According to official returns in the treasury of the 
United States, there were imported into our territory 
from Louisiana and tne Floridas, merciiancii^o to tne 
jfoilowing amounts, in the several years annexxed. 



1799 


to 


the 


value 


of 


g507,132 


1800 










904,322 


1801 










956,635 


1802 










1,006,214 



According to the same authority, which makes the 
total of tiie exports to amount to 2,138,000 dollars, the 
imports, in merchandize, plantation-utensils, slaves, &;c. 
amount to two and a half millions, the difference being 
made up by the money introduced by the government, 
to pay the expenses of governing and protecting the 
colony. 

According to the returns in the treasury of the Uni- 
ted States, exports have been made to Louisiana and 
the Floridas, to tne following amount in the years an- 
nexed : 

In 1799 to the value of 

3,056,268 in foreign articles. 
447,824 in domestic do* 



g3,504,092 



^In 1800 



1,795,127 in foreign articles, 
240,662 ill domestic do. 



§2,035,789 



144 



the Atv«ericans and their French agents establish- 
cid at New Orleans already feel inquietude at 
this idea. It is thus the future presents itself 
to the merchant, . who is always affected by' it 
as it regards his interest, which is ever found to 
be the governing principle of his mind. 

5 l)^^^»'^^4 in foreign articles, 
m 1801 ^ 137,204 in domestic do. 

§1,907,998 



In 1802 



5 1,054, 

I iro, 



600 
110 



gl,224,7l0 



It is observed, that if the total of the imports and 
exports into and from these provinces, (of which the 
two Floridas are but a very unimportant part, with re- 
spect to both) be as above supposed, viz. 

Imports, 2,500,000 

Exports, 2,158,000 



4,668,000 



The duty of six per cent ought alone to produce 
the gioss sum of two hundred seventy -nine tl:ousand, 
four hundred and eighty dollars, and that the dif^eience 
between that sura and its actual nett produce, arises 
partly from the imperfect tarift by wiiich the value of 
merchandize is asceiti ined, but principally from the 
smuggling, which is openly countenanced by most of 
the revenue oflicers. 



145 

Let us see what is the amount of produce 
eicported from the colony, and what its vaKie is 
at the present era. 

After mature examination, I am of opinion 
that the mass of the productions of the colony, 
exported in 1801, consisted of about four mik 
lions weight of rough sugar, two millions weight 
df cotton, very little syrup, with a moderate 
quantity of indigo, tobacco, carpenters' and 
coopers' wood, to which may be added some 
furs. 

This is the place to remark that the commerce 
x>f this country is carried on by about twenty ves- 
sels, that sail under American colours, from 
diiferent parts of Europe and America. They 
are from one hundred to two hundred and fifty 
tons each,* and come and go in succession. It 

"* NAVIGATION EMPLOTED IN THE TRADE OF THE PRO^ 
VINCE. 

In the year 1 802 there entered the Mississippi two 
hundred and sixty-eight vessels of all descriptions, 
eighteen of which were public armed vessels, and 
the remainder merchantmen, as follows, viz. 

American. Spanish. French. 

^Shipsj 48 14 

Brigs, 63 17 i 



146 

is further to be remark e; that, properly speak- 
ing, there are no merchants in this colony, but 

Polacres, 4 

Schooners, 50 61 

Sloops, 9 1 

Total. 170 97 , 1 

Of the number of American vessels, twenty -three 
ships, twenty-five brigs, nineteen schooners, and five 
sloops came in ballast, the remainder were wholly, or 
in part laden. 

Five Spanish Ships and seven schooners came in bal- 
last. The united tonnage of all the shipping that en- 
tered the river, exclusive o£ the public armed vessels, 
was 33,725 register tons. 

In the same year there sailed from the Mississippi 
two hundred and sixty-five sail, viz. 
American. Tons. Spanish. Tons. French. Tons. 



105 



105 



Ships, 40 
Brigs. 58 


8972 18 
7546 22 


3714 
1944 




Schrs. 52 


4346 58 


3747 


3 


Sloops, 8 
Polacres, 


519 3 
3 


118 

240 




Total, 158 


21383 104 


9753 


3 


i 


Total. 




Tons. 


Americans, 

Spanish, 

French, 


158 

104 

3 




21383 

9753 

105 



Grand total, 265 31241 

The tonnage of the vessels which went away in bal- 
last, and that of the public armed ships, are not inclu- 
ded in the foregoing account : these latter carried away 
masts, yards, spars, pitch, tar, £cc. at least 1000 tons. 
In the first six months of the year 1802, there en* 



147 



simple traders, selling every thing in retail like 
the meanest shopkeeper; and a great number 

tared the Mississippi 173 sail, of all nations, four of 
which were public armed vessels, viz. two French, and 
two Spanish, whose tonnage is not enumerated. This 
will be apparent from the following list. 
American. Tons. Spanish. Tons. French. Tons. 

Ships, 23 
Brigs, 44 
Polac. 
Schrs. 22 
Sloops, 4 



5396 
5701 

1899 
278 



Tot. 93 13264 

Total of Ships» 
Americans, 93 
Spanish, 58 

French, 22 



14 
20 

3 
18 

3 

58 



3080 
2173 

480 
1187 

167 



1002 
878 
436 
48S 



7087 22 2804 

Total of Tons. 

13264 

7087 

2804 



Grand Tot. 173 23155 tons. 

In the same six months there sailed from the Missis- 
sippi one hundred and sixty-six vessels, viz. 



American. 



Ships, 

Brigs, 

Polacres, 

Schrs, 

Sloops, 

Total. 



21 
28 

a 

2 
68 



Spanish. 

18 

31 

4 

36 

1 

80 



French. 

2 

1 



COASTING TRADE. 

There is a considerable coasting trade from Pensaeo- 
la, Mobille, and the creeks and rivers fallmg into, and 



148 



of these are oxify agents and commission mer- 
ehants. 

in the neighbourhood of Lake Ponchartrain, from 
whence New Orleans is principally supplied with ship- 
timber, charcoal, lime, pitch and tar, and partly with 
Gatlle, and the places before named are supplied with 
articles of foreign growth and produce in the same 
way from Orleans. The vessels employed are stoops 
and schooners, some of which are but half-dfeeked, 
from eight to fifty tons ; five hundred of which, in- 
cluding their repeated voyages, £ind thirteen gallies and 
gun boats, entered the Bayou of St. Jean last year. 
There is likewise a small coasting trade between the 
Atacapas and Opelusas, and New-Orleans, by way of 
the Balize, which would much increase, if there was 
any encouragement given by fj;overnment to clear away 
a few obstructions, chiefly caused by falling timber \t\ 
tlie small riters and creeks leading to them. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONT. 



X HE governor of the country, besides his 
judicial power, is chief of the army and militia, 
and the head of the civil government. He is 
also president of the cabildo, or provincial coun- 
cil. He appoints and removes at pleasure the 
commandants of districts. He appoints the of- 
ficers of the militia, who are, however, commis- 
sioned by the king ; and he recommends milita- 
ry officers for preferments He is superintend- 
ant of Indian affair?. He promulgates ordi- 
nances for tiie good government and improve- 
ment of the province ; but he has no power to 
assess taxes upon the inhabitants without their 
consent. Until the year 1798, he possessed the 
sole power of granting lands, but it then passed 
into the hands of the intendant. 

The cabildo is a hereditary council of twelve, 
chosen originally from the most wealthy and 
respectable families. The governor presides 
over their meetings. Their office is very honour- 
able, but it is acquired by purchase. They have 
n2 



tso 



a right to represent, and even remonstrate with 
the governor, in respect to the interior govern- 
ment of the province. The police of the city is 
under their controul and direction. In it they 
regulate the admission of physicians and sur- 
geons to practise. Two members of the cabildo 
serve by turns monthly, and take upon themselves 
the immediate superintendence of markets, ba- 
kers, streets, bridges, and the general police of 
the city. 

This council distributes among its members 
several important offices, such as alguazil, may- 
or, or high sheriff, alcaide provincial, attorney 
general, &c. The last is a very important 
charge : the person who holds it is not merely 
the king's attorney, but an officer peculiar to the 
civil law. He does not always prosecute ; but 
after conviction he indicates the punishment an- 
nexed by law to the crime, and which may be, 
and is mitigated by the court. Like the chan- 
cellor in the English system, he is the curator 
and protector of orphans, &c. and, finally, he 
is the expounder of the law, the defender of the 
privileges belonging to the town, province or co- 
lony, and the accuser of everj^ public officer that 
infringes them. The cabildo is also vested with 
a species of judicial authority. 



151 

The intendant is chief of the departments of 
finance, and exercises the judicial powers. He 
is totally independent of the governor, and no 
public monies can be issued without his express 
order. The land office is under his direction.* 

The contador, treasurer, and interventor, 
are officers subordinate to the intendant. The 
first has four clerks under him, and keeps all 
accounts and documents respecting the receipt 
and expenditure of the revenue j the contador 
is therefore a check upon the intendant. 

The treasurer is properly no more than a 
cashier, and is allowed one clerk. 

The interventor superintends all public pur- 
chases and bargains. 

The administrator is subordinate to the In- 
tendant, and, with a number of inferior officers, 

• Considering an acquaintance with these functions, an In- 
dispensable branch of knowledge to the American g-entleman 
who has a liigher object in opening this volume than mere a- 
musement, I entertain no fear of being accused of supei-fluity 
of detail. It will enable the reader to appreciate the propriety of 
any new code, whether it be a just modification of tlie ancient 
system or not.— —Trans. 



152 

manages every thing respecting the custom- 
house. Every clerk in these offices receives his 
commission from the king. 

The auditor is the king's counsel, who is to 
furnish the governor with legal advice in all 
cases of judicial proceedings, whether civil or 
military. 

The assessor's functions are similar to those 
of the auditor, and are properly applicable to 
the intendant's department. 

A secretary of the government and another of 
the intendancy. 

A surveyor general. 

A harbour master. 

A storekeeper, who takes charge of all public 
moveable property. 

An interpreter of the French and Spanish 
languages, and a number of other inferi- 
or officers. 

All appointments in the province with a sala- 
ry of more than thirty dollars per month are 
made by the king, and most of those with a 
lower salary by the governor or intcndant, as be- 



lara 



longs to their respective departments, 
are no officers chosen by the people.* 



There 



* The salaries and perquisites of the principal of- 
ficers arfe as follows : 



Dollars. 




Dollars. 


Governor annually 6,000 


Salary. 


2,000 Perquisites: 


Intendant - - - 4,000 




none 


Auditor - - - 2,000 




2,000 


Contador - - - 2,000 




none 


Assessor - - - 1,209 




1,000 


Treasurer - - - 1,200 




none 


Administrator - 1,200 




none 


Sect, of Government 600 




2,000 



The commandants of districts, who have no military 
post or pension, receive each a hundred dollars from 
^e king annually. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

EXPENSES AND DEBT. 



X HE expenses of the present government,^ 
comprehending the pay and support of the regi- 
ment of Louisiana, part of the battalion of the 

* It will doubtless be proper to enumerate the 

TAXES AND DUTIES. 

Instead of paying local taxes, each inhabitant is bound to 
make and repair roads, bridges and embankments through his 
own land. 

A duty of six per cent, is payable at the custom-house, on the 
transfer of shipping. It is levied upon the sum the buyer 
and seller declare to be the real consideration. As no oath is re- 
quired from eitlier, they seldom report more than half the 
price. 

The following taxes are also payable in the province. 

Two per cent, on legacies and inheritances coming from col- 
laterals, and exceeding 2,000 dollars. 

Four per cent, on legacies given to persons who are not rela- 
tives of the testator. 

A taA on civil employments, the salaries of which exceed 
300 dollars annually, called media annata, amounting to half 
the first year's salary. By certain officers, it is to be paid by 



155 

regiment of Mexico, a company of dragoons, 
and one of artillery, which form the garrison 
of the country, including Mobille ; the repairs 
of public buildings and fortifications ; the main- 
tenance of a few gallies to convey troops and 
stores throughout the province ; Indian presents 
and salaries of officers, clergy, and persons em- 
ployed for public purposes, amount to about 
650,000 dollars. A sum in specie, which does 
not generally exceed 400,000 dollars, is annually 
sent from Vera Cruz ; but this, together with 

two annual instalments, and by otliers in four. The first persoa 
appointed to a newly created office pays nothing ; but the tax is 
levied on all who succeed him. 

Seven dollars are deducted from tlie sum of twenty, paid as 
pilotage by every vessel entering or leaving the Mississippi; but 
the treasuiy provides the boats, and pays tlie salary of the pilots 
and sailors employed at the B-alize, The remainder of the twen- 
ty dollars is thus disti'ibuted : To the head pilot 4, to the pilot 
who is in the vessel 4, and 5 to the crew of the row-boat that 
goes out to put the pilot on board, or take him ashore. 

A tax of forty dollars per annum on licenses to sell liquors. 

A tax on certain places when sold, such ajs those of regidor, 
notary, attorney, &c. 

But the principal tax is that of 6 per cent, levied on all Im- 
ports and exports, according to a low tariff, the proceeds of 
which nett about 120,000 dollars, while all the other taxes are 
siud not to yield more than 5 or 6 thousand dollars annually. 



156 

Ihe amount of duties and taxes collected ih the 
province, leaves usually a deficiency of one hun^ 
dred, or one hundred and fifty thousand dollars^ 
for which certificates are issued to the persons 
who may have furnished supplies, or to officers 
and workmen for their salaries. Hence a debt has 
accumulated, which, it is said, amounts at present 
to about 450,000 dollars. It bears no interest, and 
is now depreciated 30 per cent. The latter cir* 
cumstance has taken place, not from want of 
confidence in the eventual payment of the certi- 
ficates, but from the uncertainty of the time 
when, and the want and general value of specie. 
The whole of this debt is said to be due to the 
inhabitants, and to American residents. It 
would have been long since paid off, but for a 
diversion of the funds, destined for that pur- 
pose to different and external objects. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE FORTIFICATIONS OF THE COLONY. 



The fortifications of New-Orleans, which I 
have before slightly noticed, consist of five ill 
constructed redoubts, with a covered way, pali- 
sade and ditch. The whole is going fast to de- 
cay, and it is presumed they would be of but 
little service, in case of an attack. There is a 
powder magazine on the opposite side of the riv- 
er.* 

* For Internal defence tliei-e Is a milllla in Louisiana. The 
following is the return of it, made to the coiii-t of Spain by the 

Baron de Carondelet. 

Militia 
From the Balize to the city-volunteers of the Missis- 1 ^^q 
sippi-4 companies of 100 men each— complete 3 

City-Battalion of the City, 5 companies 500 

Artillery Company, witli supernumeraries 120 

Carabineers, or privileged companies of horse, 2 com- "> jq^ 
panies of rO each-incomplete ------ -J 

Mulattoes, 2 companies : Negroes, 1 do. 300 

Mixed Legion of the Mississippi, comprehending Gal- 

veztown, Baton-Rouge, Pointe Coupee, Atacrqias 

and Opelousas, viz. 

o 



158 

The fort of Plaquemines, which is about 
twelve or thirteen leagues from the sea, is an 

2 companies of grenadiers 

8 do. of fasi leers 

4 do. of dragoons 

2 do. lately added from Bayou Sara 

16 companies of 100 men each 1600 

Avoyelles, 1 company of infantry 100 

Oucheta, 1 do. of cavalry • 100 

Natchitoches, 1 do. of infantry and 1 of cavalry ■ - - 200 

Arkansas, 1 do. of infantry and cavalry ----- 100 

Illinois, 4 do. of cavalry 1 These are always above ") ^^^ 
4 do. of infantry 5 the complement. 3 

Provincial regiment of Germans and Acadians, from 
the first German coast to Iberville 

10 companies, viz. 2 of grenadiers "> ^ ^ ^^^^ 

8 of fusileers 5 

Mobille and the country East of Lake Ponchartraln 

2 companies of horse and foot, incomplete - . - - 120 

5,440 

The Island of New-Orleans, with the opposite mar-") ^ ^qq 
gin and the adjacent settlements 5 ' 

The West margin from Manchac, including Pointe") onn 
Coupee and extending to the Red River - - -5 

Atacapas, along the coast, between the delta of the "> ^^^ 
Mississippi and the river Sabine 3 *^ 

Opelousas _-.-. 750 

Red River, including Bayou Boeuf, Avovelles, Ra-"> - ^^^ 
pide and Nachitoches ' . - , -3 ^»^^^ 

Ouachita --.... 30Q 



159 



ill constructed, irregular brickwork, on the east- 
ern side of the Mississippi. It might be taken 
perhaps, by escalade, without difficulty. 

It is in a degree ruinous. The principal 
front is meant to defend the approach from the 
sea, and can oppose, at most, but eight heavy 
guns. On the opposite bank are the ruins of 
a small closed redoubt, called Fort Bourbon ; 
its fire was intended to flank that of the Fort of 
Plaquemines. 

Concord - 40 

Arkansas .-..- 150 

New Madrid and its vicinity 350 

Illinois and Missoui'i 1,000 

The settlements on the East side of the Mississippi,"^ 

from the American line to the Iberville, and some C 600 
other settlements j 

10,340 

It is to be observed that none of these statements include 
the coimtry beyond the river Sabine, nor even all those wliich 
lie East of it. Data ai'e wanting- to give them. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

or LANDS AND TITLE?;' 



X HE lands are held in some Instances by 
grants from the crown, but mostly from the 
colonial government. But perhaps not one quar- 
ter of the lands granted in Louisiana are held by 
complete titles ; and of the remainder a consi- 
derable part depends upon a written permission 
of a commandant. Not a small proportion is 
held by occupancy, with, a single verbal permis- 
sion of the officer last mentioned. This practice 
has always been countenanced by the Spanish 
goveniment, in order that poor men, when they 
found themselves a little at ease, might, at their 
own conveniency, apply for and obtain complete 
titles. In the meantime such imperfect rights 
were suffered by the government to descend by 
inheritance, and even to be transferred by pri- 
vate contract. When requisite, they have been 
seized by judicial authority, and sold for the 
payment of debts. 

Until within a few years, the governor of Up- 
per Louisiana was authorised to make surveys 



1(51 

ot any extent. In the exercise of this discre- 
tionary power some abuses were committed; 
a few small monopolies were created. About 
three years ago he was restricted in this branch 
of his duty; since which he has been only au- 
thorised to m.ike surveys to emigrants in the 
following manner : 7 wo hundred acres for each 
man and wife, fifty acres for each child, and 
twenty acres for each slave. Hence the quantity 
of land allowed to setders depends on the num- 
ber in each family ; and for this quantity of land 
thcry paid no more than the expense of survey- 
ing. These surveys were necessary to entitle 
the settlers to grants ; and the governor, and af- 
ter him, the intendant at New-Orleans, were 
alone authorised to execute grants on the re- 
ceipt of the surveys from the setders. The ad- 
ministration of the land-office is at present under 
the care of the intendant of the province. 

There are no feudal rights nor noblesse. 

It is impossible to ascertain the quantity of 
lands granted, without calling upon the claim- 
ants to exhibit their titles ; the registry being 
incomplete, and the maps made by the different 
surveyors-general having been burnt in the fires 
o 2 



162 

€>f New-Orleans of 1788 and 1794, no estimate 
has been obtained. 

All the lands on both sides of the Mississippiy 
from the distance of sixteen leagues below New- 
Orleans to Baton Rouge, are granted to the 
depth of forty acres, or nearly half a league, 
which is the usual depth of all grants. 



CHAPTER XX. 

RECAPITULATION. A SUMMARY VIEW OF ALL THS 
SETTLEMENTS IN UPPER AND LOWER LOUISIANA. 



X HAT the reader may the more readily digest 
the intelligence imparted in this volume, will 
make a kind of recapitulation of the most promi- 
nent parts. 

Louisiana, including the Mobille settlements, 
was discovered and peopled by the French, 
whose monarchs made several grants of its trade, 
in particular to Mr. Corosat, in 1712, and some 
years after, with his acquiescence, to the well 
known company projected by Mr. Law.* 

* The Mississippi scheme, by Law, beside the madness; 
misery, and calamities it occasioned, was likewise produc- 
tive of many circumstances tnUy ridicidous, during- the 
gx)lden dreams of the whole French nation. 

If Law, says an historian, wished for the favours of French 
women, they would have kissed his derriere. One day when 
he gave audience to a g-reat number of ladies, they woidd 
not surtei- him to leave them ^>i" 'M^ m >si: pressing- occasions, 
'Which thoug-h he Wcisfovced to e:ipi--.\n, tliey only cried out, 
" Oh ! if that's all, we certainly shall not pai-t with you — 



164 

This company was relinquished in the year 
1731. By a secret convention on the third of 
November, 1762, the French government ceded 
so much of the province as lies beyond the Mis- 
sissippi, as well as the island of New-Orleans to 
Spain ; and by the treaty of peace which follow- 
ed in 1763, the whole territory of France and 
Spain eastward of the middle of the Mississipi 
to the Iberville, thence through the middle of 
that river, and the lakes Maurepas and Pon- 
chartrain to the sea, was ceded to Great Britain. 
Spain having conquered the Floridas from Great 
Britain during the American war, they were 
confirmed to her by the treaty of peace of 1783. 

*' you may do whatever you please, provided you listen to us 
" the while." 

One lady despairing of seeing* Mr. Law by any other means; 
ordered her coachman to drive to the door of a house where 
she knew he was to dine, and began to cry " fire ! fire !" witli 
all her might ; on which the whole company ran out to see 
W^here, and Law among the rest ; when the ciu-ious lady 
jumped out of her coach to have a full lew of him, which 
having accomplished, she took to her heels, and made her 
escape. Another lady ordered her coachman to overturn 
her carriage opposite to Law's house, in order to bring him 
out to her relief; when she confessed to the terrestrial Plutus 
that tlie accident was brought about expressly to have an op- 
portunity of speaking to him. — " The projector Law," says 
Montesquieu, " turned the state as a botcher ttu'ns a gar- 
ra^i]it."~-Fragmsns de L^ttres.— Tracs. 



16^" 

By the treaty of Saint Ildefonso, of the first of 
October, 1800, his catholic majesty promises 
and engages on his part to cede back to the 
French Republic, six months after the full and 
entire execution of the conditions and stipula- 
tions therein contained, relative to the Duke of 
Parma, " The colony or province of Louisiana, 
*' with the same extent that it actually hath in the 
" hands of Spain, that it had when France pos- 
'' sessed it, and such as it ought to be after the 
'' treaties subsequently entered into between 
" Spain and other states." This treaty was con- 
firmed and enforced by that of Madrid, of the 
2.st of March, 1801. From France it passed 
to the United States by the Treaty of the 30th 
of April, 1801, with a reference to the above 
clause, as descriptive of the limits ceded.-^ 

The province as held by Spain, including a 
part of West' Florida, is laid off into the follow- 
ing principal divisions: Mobille, from Balize 

* It is a matter of mirth what erroneous notions the world 
has relative to the cession of Louisiana to the United States. 
A thousand people imagine at this moment that New-Orleans 
belong-s to us ; whereas New-Orleans still belongs to his 
Catholic Majesty the king cf Spain ; it is comprehended ia 
tJhe tract reserved by him. Trans. 



166 

to the city, New-Orleans and the country on 
both sides ol' Lake Ponchartrain, first and se- 
cond German coasts, Catahanose, Fourche, Ve- 
nezuela, Iberville, Galvez Town, Baton Rouge 
Pointe Coupee, Atacapas, Opelousas, Ouachita, 
Avoyelles, Rapide, Natchitoches, Arkansas, 
and the Illinois. 

In the Illinois there are commandants at New- 
Madrid, St. Genevieve, New-Bourbon, St. 
Charles, and St. Andrews, all subordinate to the 
commandant-general. 

Baton Rouge having been made a government 
subsequently to the treaty of limits, &c, with 
Spain, the posts of Manchac, and Thompson's 
creek, or Feliciana, were added to it. 

Chapitoulas has sometimes been regarded as 
a separate command, but it is now included with- 
in the jurisdiction of the cit) . The lower part 
of the river has likewise had occasionally a se- 
parate commandant. 

Many of the present establishments are sepa- 
rated from each other by immense and trackless 
deserts, having no communication with one 
another by land, except now and then a solitary 
instance of ito being atcemptea by hunters, wLo 



167 

have to swim rivers, expose themselves to the 
inclemency of the weather, and carry their pro- 
visions on their backs for a time proportioned 
to the length of their journey. This is particu- 
larly the case on the West of the Mississippi, 
where the communication is kept up only by 
water, between the capital and the distant set- 
tlements ; three months being required to con- 
vey intelligence from one to the other by the 
Mississippi, 

The principal settlements in Louisiana are 
on the Mississippi, and begin to be cultivated 
about twenty leagues from the sea, where the 
plantations are yet thin, and owned by the poor- 
est people. Ascending you see them improve 
on each side, till you reach New-Orleans, which 
is five leagues higher. The best and most im- 
proved are above the city, and comprehend what 
is there known by the Paroisse de Chapitoulas, 
premier and second Cote des Allemands, and 
extends sixteen leagues. 

Above this begins the parish of Catahanose, 
or first Acadian settlement, extending eight 
leagues on the river. Adjoining it and still 
ascending is the second Acadian settlement, or 
parish of the Fourche, which extends about six 



168 

leases. Thr parish of Iberville then com* 
mences, and is bounded on the east side by the 
river of the same name, which, though dry a 
great part of the year, yet, when the Mississip- 
pi is raised, it communicates with the lakes Mau- 
repas and Ponchartrain, and through them with 
the sea ; thus forming what is called the island 
of New-Orleans. Except on the point just be- 
low the Iberville, the country from Ncw-Or- 
leans is settled the whole way along the river, 
and presents a scene of uninterrupted plantations 
in sight of each other, whose fronts are all clear- 
ed to the Mississippi, and occupy on that river 
from five to twenty-five acres with a depth of 
forty ; so that a plantation of five acres in front 
contains two hundred. 

A few sugar plantations are formed in the pa- 
rish of Catahanose, but the remainder is devot- 
ed to cotton and provisions, and the whole is an 
excellent soil incapable of being exhausted. The 
plantations are but one deep on the island (M 
New-Orleans, and on the opposite side of the 
river as far as the mouth of the Iberville, which 
is thirty-five leagues above Nev/-Orleans. 

The sugar-cane may be cultivated between the 
river Iberville sind New-Orleans, on both sides 



16<^ 

•f the Mississippi, and as far back as the swamps. 
Below the city, however, the lands decline so 
rapidly that beyond fifteen miles the soil is not 
'\vell adapted to it. Above the Iberville the cane 
would be affected by the co^d, and its produce 
would, therefore, be uncertain. Within these 
limits, the best planters admit that one quarter 
of the cultivated lands of any considerable plan- 
tation may be planted in cane, one quarter left in 
pasture, and the remaining half employed for 
provisions, &c. and a reserve for a change of 
crops. One Parisian arpent of one hundred and 
eighty feet square, may be eTipected to produce, 
on an average, twelve hundred weight of sugar, 
and fifty gallons of rum. 

From the above data, admitting that both sides 
of the river are planted for ninety miles in ex- 
tent and about three-fourths of a mile in depth, it 
will result that the annual product may amount, 
in round numbers, to twenty-five thousand hogs- 
heads of sugar, together with twelve thousand 
puncheons of rum. Enterprising young planters 
say, that one third, or even one half of the arable 
land might be planted in cane. It may also be 
remarked, that a regular supply of provisions 
-from above, at a moderate price, would enable 
the planter to give his attention to a greater body 



no 

of land cultivated with cane. The whole of 
these lands, as may be supposed, are granted ; 
but in the Atacapas country there is undoubted- 
ly a portion, parallel to the sea-coast, fit for the 
culture of the sugar-cane. There vacant lands 
are to be found, but the proportion is at present 
unknown. 

In the above remarks, the lands at Terre au 
Boeuf, on the Fourche, Bayou St. Jean, and other 
inlets of the Mississippi, south of the latitude 
supposed to divide those which are fit fromthos^ 
which are unfit for "the cultivation of the caney 
have been entirely kept out of view% Including 
these, and taking one-third, instead of one- 
fourth of the lands fit for sugar, the produce of 
the whole v,rould be fifty thousand, instead of 
twent\ -five thousand hogsheads of sugar* 

The following quantities of sugar, brown, clay*» 
ed and refined, were imported into the United 
States from Louisiana and the Floridas, viz. 

In 1799, - . rr3,542lb. 

1800, - - 1,560,865 

1801, » - 967,619 

1802, - - 1,576,933 

About twenty-five leagues from New-Orlean€^ 



171 

on the west side of the Mississippi, the creek o* 
Bayou of the Fourche, called in the old maps La 
Riviere des Chitamaches, flows from the Mis- 
sissippi, and communicates with the sea to the 
west of the Balise. The entrance of the Mis- 
sissippi is navigahle only at high water, but will 
then admit of craft of from sixty to seventy tons 
burthen. On both banks of the creek are settle*, 
ments, one plantation deep, for nearly fifteen 
le?cgues, and they are divided into two parishes. 
The settlers arc numerous, though poor, and the 
culture is universally cotton. On all creeks mak- 
ing from the Mississippi, the soil is the same as 
on the banks of the river, and the border is the 
highest part of it, from whence it descends gradu- 
ally to the swamp. In no place on the low lands 
is there depth more than sufficient for one plan- 
tation, before you come to the low grounds in- 
capable of cultivation. This creek affords one 
of the communications to the tv/o populous and 
rich settlements of Atacapas and Opelousas, 
formed on and near the small rivers Teche and 
Vermilion, which flow into the bay of Mexico. 
But the principal and swiftest communication is 
by the Bayou or creek of Plaquemines, whose 
entrance into the Mississippi is seven leagues 
higher up on the same side, and thirty-two above 
New-Orleans. These settlements abound in cat>- 



tie and horses, have a large quantity of good land 
in their vicinity, and may be made of great im- 
portance. A part of their produce is sent by 
sea to New-Orleans, but the greater part is car- 
ried in batteausi by the ci-y^ks above mentioned. 

Immediately above the Iberville, and on both 
sides of the Mississippi, lies the parish of Man- 
chac, which extends four leagues on the river, 
and is well cultivated. Above it commences the 
settlement of Baton Rouge, extending about nine 
leagues. It is remarkable as being the first place 
where the high land is contiguous to the river, 
and here it forms a bluff from thirty to forty 
feet above the greatest rise of the river. Fere 
the settlements extend a considerable v/ay back 
on the east side ; and this parish has that of 
Thompson's creek and Bayou Sara subordinate 
to it. The mouth of the first of these creeks is 
about forty-nine leagues from New-Orleans, and 
that of the latter two or three leagues higher up. 
They run from north-east to south-west, and 
their headwaters are north of the thirty-iirst de- 
gree of latitude. Their banks have the best soil, 
and the greatest number of good cotton planta- 
tions of any part of Louisiana, and are allowed 
to be the garden of it. 



U3 

Above Baton Rouge, at the distance of fifty- 
leagues from New-Orleans, and on the west side 
of the Mississippi, is Pointe Coupee, a popu- 
lous and rich settlement, extending eight leagues 
along the river. Its produce is cotton. Behind it, 
on an old bed of the river, now a lake, whose 
outlets are closed up, is the settlement of Fausse 
Riviere, which is well cultivated. 

In the space now described from the sea, as 
liigh as, and including the last mentioned settle- 
ment, are contained three-fourths of the popula- 
tion, andseven-eighdisof the riches of Louisiana. 

From tbe settlement of Pointe Coupee on the 
Mississippi, to Cape Girardeau^ above the mouth 
of the Ohio, there is no land on the west side 
that is not overflowed in the spring, to the dis- 
tance of eight or ten leagues from the river, ex- 
cept a small spot near New- Madrid ; so that in 
the whole extent there is no possibility of form- 
ing a considerable settlement contiguous to the 
river on that side. The eastern bank has, in 
this respect, a decided advantage over the west- 
ern, as there are on it many situations which ef- 
fectuallv command the river. 



Ontlie west side of the Mississippi, seveniy 
p3 



174 

leagues from New-Orleans, is the mouth of the 
Red River, on whose banks and vicinity are the 
settlements of Rapide, Avoyelles and Natchi- 
toches, all of which are thriving and populous. 
The latter is situated seventy-five leagues up the 
river. On the north side of the Red River, a 
few leagues from its junction with the Missis- 
sippi, is the Black River, on one of whose 
branches, a considerable way up, is the infant set- 
tlement of Ouachita, which, from the richness of 
the soil, may be made a place of importance. 
Cotton is the chief produce of these settlements, 
but they h?vve likewise a considerable Indian 
trade. The River Rouge, or Red River, is 
made use of to communicate with the frontiers 
of New-Mexico. 

There is no other settlement on the Missis- 
sippi, except the small one called Concord, op- 
posite to the Natchez, till you come to the Ar- 
kansas river, whose mouth is two hundred and 
fifty leagues above New-Orleans. 

Here are but a fev/ families, who are more at- 
tached to the Indian trade, by which they chiefly 
live, than to cultivation. There is no settlement 
from this place to New-Madrid, which is itself 
iaconsiderable. Ascending the river, you come 



irs 

to Cape Girardeau, St. Genevieve, aiid St. 
Louis ; where, though the inhabitants are nume- 
rous, they raise little for exportation, and con- 
tent themselves vv^ith trading with the Indians, 
and working a few lead mines. This country is 
very fertile, especially on the banks of the Mis- 
souri, where there have been formed two settle- 
ments, called St. Charles and St. Andrew, most- 
ly by emigrants from Kentucky. The peltry 
procured in the Illinois is the best sent to the 
Atlantic market ; and the quantity is very con- 
siderable. Lead is to be ha i with ease, and in 
such quantities ^s to supply all Europe, if the 
population were sufncient to work the numerous 
mines which are to be found within t%vo or three 
feet from the surface in various parts of the coun- 
try. The settlements above the Illinois were 
first made by the Canadians, and their inhabi- 
tants still resemble them in their aversion to la- 
bour, and love of a w^andering life. They con- 
tain but few negroes, compared to the number 
of the whites ; and it may be received as a gene- 
ral ride, that in proportion to the distance from 
the capital, the number of blacks diminish below 
that of the whites ; the former abounding mostly 
on the rich plantations in the vicinity. 

When compared with the Indiana Territory, 



176 

the face of the country in Upper Louisiana is 
rather more broken, though the soil is equally- 
fertile. It is a fact not to be contested, that the 
west side of the Mississippi possesses some ad- 
vantages not generally incident to those regions. 
It is elevated and healthy, and well watered with 
a variety of large, rapid streams, calculated for 
mills and other water-works. From Cape Gi- 
rardeau, above the mouth of the Ohio, to the 
Missouri, the land on the east side of the river 
is low and flat, and occasionally exposed to inun- 
dations ; that on the Louisiana side, contiguous 
to the river, is generally much higher, and in 
many places very rocky on the shore. Some of 
the heights exhibit a scene truly picturesque. 
They rise to a height of at least three hundred 
feet, faced with perpendicular lime and free 
stone, carved into various shapes and figures by 
the hand of Nature, and afford the appearance 
of a multitude of antique towers. From the tops 
of thtse elevations, the Ian ' gradually slopes 
back from the river, without gravel or rock,. and 
is covered with valuable timber. It may be said 
with truth that, for fertility of soil, no part of the 
world exceeds the borders oi the Mississippi ; 
where the land yields an abundance of all the ne- 
cessaries of life, and almost spontaneously ; very 
little labor is required in the cultivation of. the 



Ill 

earth. That part of Upper Louisiana which 
borders on North Mexico, is one immense prai' 
rie ; it produces nothing but grass, it is filled 
with buffalo, deer, and other kinds of game ; the 
land is represented as too rich for the growth of 
forest trees. 

The salt works are pretty numerous ; some be- 
long to individuals, others to the public. They 
already yield an abundant supply for the consump- 
tion of the country ; and, if properly managed, 
might become an article of more general exporta- 
tion. The usual price per bushel is 1 50 cents in 
cash at the works. This price will be still lower as 
soon as the manufacture of the salt is assumed by 
the government, or patronized by men who have 
large capitals to employ in the business. 

The geography of the Mississippi and Missouri, 
and their contiguity for a considerable length, are 
but little knov/n. The traders assert that, one hun- 
dred miles above their junction, a man may walk 
from one to the other in a day ; and it is also as- 
serted, that roo miles still higher up, the portage 
may be crossed in four or five days. This port- 
age is frequented by traders, who carry on a con- 
siderable trade with some of the Missouri In- 
dians. Their general route is through Green Bay« 



178 

whicli is an arm of lake Michigan ; they then pass 
into a small lake connected with it, and which 
communicates with the Fox River ; they then 
cross over a short portage into the Ouisconsing 
river, which unites with the Mississippi some dis- 
tance below the falls of St. Anthony. It is also 
said that the traders communicate with tha Mis- 
sissippi above these falls, through lake Superior, 
but their trade in that quarter is not considerable. 

The canal of Carondelet, behind Nevr-Orleans, 
is about a mile and a half long ; it communicates 
with the creek called Bayou St. Jean, flowing into 
lake Pontchartrain. 

On the east side of the Mississippi, about five 
leagues below New-Orleans, and at the head of 
the English Bend, is a settlement known by the 
name of the Poblacion de St. Bernardo, or the 
Terre aux Boeufs, extending on both sides of a 
creek or drain, whose head is contiguous to the 
Mississippi. The inhabitants of this settlement 
are almost all Spaniards from the Canaries. 

At the distance of sixteen leagues below New— 
Orleans, the settlements on both banks are incon- 
siderable. The English turn, or small tongue of 
land, extends some way into the sea, and is visible 



179 

on both sides of the Mississippi from a ship** 
m:5St. 

From Plaquemines to the sea the country is 
low, swampy, and chiefly covered with reeds ; 
and is suHject to hurricanes that sweep away men 
and cattle ; they commonly happen in August. 

About eight leagues below Plaquemines, the 
Mississippi divides itself into three channels, 
which are called the passes of the river ; their 
course is from five to six leagues to the sea. 

The country on the east side of Lake Ponchar- 
train to Mobille is a poor thin soil, overgrown 
v/ith pine, and contains no good land whatever, 
except on the banks of a few small rivers. 

I'he inhabitants of Louisiana are chiefly the de^ 
scendants of the French and Canadians. There 
are a considerable number of English and Ameri- 
cans in New Orleans. The two German coasts 
are peopled by the descendants of settlers from 
Germany, and a few French intermixed. The 
three succeeding sc;tlements up to Baton Rouge 
contain mostly Acadians, banished from Nova 
Scotia by the English and their descendants. 
Tiie government of Baton Rouge, especially the 
loast side, which iiiclud&s all the countrj^ b^ 



180 

tween the Iberville and the American line, is com- 
posed partly of Acadians, a very few French, and 
of a great majority of Americans. On the west 
side they are mostly Acadians ; at Pointe Coupee 
and Fausse Riviere they are French and Acadians ; 
of the population of the Atacapas and Opelousas, 
a considerable part is American. Nachitotches, 
on the Red River, contains but a few Americans, 
and the remainder of the inhabitants are French ; 
but the former are more numerous in the other 
settlements on that river, viz. Avoyelles, Rapide, 
and Ouachita. At Arkansas they are mostly 
French, and at New- Madrid, Americans. At 
least two-fifths on the Spanish side of the Missis- 
sippi are likewise supposed to be Americans. Be- 
low New-Orleans, the population is altogether 
French and the descendants of Frenchmen. 

• I now bring to a conclusion my account of thie 
important country ; important in the eye of every 
comprehensive mind, as New-Orleans, when the 
western States of the American government in- 
crease in population, will necessarily become the 
centre of an immense commerce. If I have been 
acrimonious in my strictures on certain classes 
of its inhabitants, it was with a desire to m.ark 
vice with infamy, and expose meanness to con- 
tempt. But I make not a general inference from 



181 

a particular position. There arc many exceptions 
to my character of the Creoles of Louisiana. I 
have known among them good fathers, tender 
mothers, affectionate wives, and obedient children# 
Let the stricken deer go weep ; the sorrow of the 
wicked provokes no sympathy. 

I repeat I have not drawn my inferences from 
preceding writers, but observed, reflected and 
compared for myself. My countrymen general- 
ly deal in such frivolity, that the understanding 
starves on their page ; but more important ob- 
jects have exercised my mind than the state of the 
taverns on the road, the temper of the landlords, 
the number of beds in a room, and the quality of 
their linen, 

Louisiana^ Coast of Cha^itoulasy 
May 10, 1802. 



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